1 Oil headed towards US$41 a barrel yesterday, trading close to a 2016 high, bolstered by a plan among some of the world's biggest producers to meet next month to discuss curbing output, Reuters said.

2 Standard & Poor's Ratings lowered its long-term corporate score on China-based property developer Country Garden to BB from BB+. The outlook is stable.

3 China's Tencent's profit missed estimates as costs for video content and online banking rose. Net income rose 22 per cent to 7.16 billion yuan (S$1.5 billion) in the three months to Dec 31.

4 UOB Asset Management (Taiwan) has attained the Securities Investment Trust Enterprise licence, allowing it to offer more products and to provide fund management for domestic investors.

5 Lum Chang is issuing $50 million worth of notes paying a coupon of 5.5 per cent a year. The tenure is three years and the expiry date is March 28, 2019.