Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Thursday. STI up 1%, DBS, UOB and OCBC up 1%.

Stocks to Watch

Singapore Airlines (SIA) : The national carrier and its low-cost arm carried a total of 3.6 million passengers in December 2024, up 7.1 per cent from the previous year. For the whole of 2024, total passenger carriage was 12.7 per cent higher at 39 million. SIA also reported growth in passenger capacity and cargo loads in the month, driven by a “boost in perishables traffic” and year-end demand. Shares of SIA closed on Wednesday flat at S$6.27, before the news.

ESR Real Estate Investment Trust (ESR Reit) : Its manager has entered into a contract to divest a Tuas industrial building for about S$9.9 million, which represents a 1.5 per cent premium to its current valuation. The sale is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025, but should not materially impact ESR Reit’s net asset value and distribution per unit for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2025. Units of ESR Reit closed on Wednesday up 2 per cent, or S$0.005, to S$0.26, before the news.

GuocoLand : The real estate group has secured two green club facilities, worth about S$1.2 billion in total, from DBS and OCBC. The first is a S$1.1 billion green loan for the refinancing of its latest integrated mixed development, Guoco Midtown, and is the group’s largest facility to date. The other is a S$105 million loan for the refinancing of the luxury residential development, Midtown Bay. Shares of GuocoLand closed flat at S$1.45 on Wednesday, before the news.

Market News

New home sales shrink in December after November spike, but are 50% higher on year

Property developers sold a total of 203 new homes excluding executive condominiums (ECs) in December 2024, as sales receded from an extraordinary surge in the month before, data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority on Wednesday (Jan 15) showed.

Still, last month’s sales were 50 per cent higher than the 135 units sold in the year-ago period, and the highest for December since 2021. Amid the seasonal year-end lull, buying activity spilled over from a swell in the number of units launched in November, during which six new condominium projects hit the market.

New home sales in December were 92 per cent lower than the 2,560 units sold in November, which had the highest number of units sold monthly since March 2013.

UK activist investor Palliser takes protest against Great Eastern takeover to MAS, SGX

UK activist investor Palliser Capital is looking to disrupt the takeover of insurer Great Eastern by majority shareholder OCBC, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday (Jan 15).

Palliser called the deal “gravely unfair” for shareholders, in its appeal to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Singapore Exchange (SGX), FT said, citing documents it saw.

According to FT, Palliser – which has a stake in Great Eastern – accused OCBC of treating minority shareholders unfairly in its attempted full takeover of the company.