Market Snapshot

Singapore stocks opened higher on Friday. STI fell 0.4%; SingPost down 1%; SIA, DBS down 0.6%.

Stocks to Watch

IHH : The private healthcare group said on Thursday net profit for its third quarter ended Sep 30 was RM534 million (S$161.5 million), almost flat from RM532 million the year before. Earnings per share stood at 6.06 sen, also relatively unchanged from 6.04 sen. Earnings held steady despite revenue slipping 3 per cent to RM5.6 billion due to inflation. Shares of IHH closed at S$2.17 on Thursday, down S$0.01 or 0.5 per cent, before the results were announced.

DigiCore Reit USD : The manager on Thursday published a response to unitholders’ questions relating to its acquisition of a bigger stake in a data centre in Frankfurt, Germany. This included explanations of how it came to decide the extra amount of stake to buy in the facility; its valuation; how its market value was determined, and how the acquisition would be financed. Unitholders asked the Reit manager to explain the specific size of the additional acquisition, which Digital Core had proposed to be between 0.2 and 40 per cent. It currently owns 49.9 per cent of the facility. Units of the Reit closed at US$0.63, up US$0.005 or 0.8 per cent on Thursday, before the release of the announcement.

SG Local News

Single Leverage Limit, Additional Disclosures Imposed on All S-Reits: MAS

All Singapore-listed real estate investment trusts, or S-Reits, will be subject to a minimum interest coverage ratio (ICR) of at least 1.5 times, and an aggregate leverage limit of 50 per cent with immediate effect, in a move to standardise leverage limits across the sector.

They will also need to provide additional disclosures related to their leverages in their interim financial result announcements and annual reports starting from the financial periods ending on or after Mar 31, 2025.

The changes follow a public consultation held by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) between July and August this year.

RHB Still Upbeat on ST Engineering but Trims Target Price by 2.3%

Although ST Engineering’s share price “has been a bit soft” following the release of its results for 3QFY2024 ended Sept 30, RHB Bank Singapore analyst Shekhar Jaiswal remains upbeat on the outlook of the integrated engineering group. 

Shares in ST Engineering have fallen some 3.8% over the past month. 

ST Engineering reported 14% higher revenue y-o-y to $8.3 billion for its 9MFY2024 ended Sept 30. The jump was led by "significant" 3QFY2024 growth in its Defence and Public Security (DPS) segment. In 9MFY2024, this market segment recorded 18% y-o-y higher revenue, reaching $3.6 billion.

Singapore’s Real Incomes Rebound in 2024 as Inflation Eases, but Real Wage Growth for Last 5 Years Still Low

Real incomes in Singapore made a rebound in 2024 as inflation eased, recovering from the previous year’s decline, the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) annual Labour Force in Singapore Advance Release report showed on Thursday (Nov 28).

For full-time workers, the nominal median gross monthly income including Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions rose to S$5,500 this year, up 5.8 per cent from 2023.

After adjusting for inflation, real income growth was 3.4 per cent, according to preliminary estimates, recovering from a decline of 2.2 per cent in 2023.