1 Commodities face more falls as China's slowdown hits demand and the world's largest user moves away from raw materials, said Yale University fellow Stephen Roach in a Bloomberg interview.

2 Moody's says a prolonged glut will keep oil prices lower for longer and keep pressing energy issuers next year, particularly those in the exploration and production, and drilling and oilfield services.

3 The 12 Singapore Exchange stocks in the semiconductor sector are up 28.2 per cent this year from an 11.2 per cent gain last year. The top five are Manufacturing Integration Tech, Micro-Mechanics, Avi-Tech Electronics, Smartflex Holdings and Sunright.

4 Vallianz Holdings' unit Rawabi Vallianz Offshore Services in Saudi Arabia will refinance its loans of about US$293.3 million (S$413 million).

5 Xpress Holdings turned in a loss of $188,000 for the three months to Oct 31 compared with a profit of $126,000 a year earlier. Revenue was 25 per cent lower at $1.89 million.