Bizview: Today's top business news
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Tourists look at an electronic board electronic displaying current exchange rates at a shopping mall in Bangkok on July 27, 2015. PHOTO: AFP
Continued volatility on Chinese equity markets again weighed on Singapore shares, which ended the week in the red on Friday. The Straits Times Index sank 47.02 points, or 1.45 per cent, to close at 3,202.5 yesterday. For the week, the STI fell 153.87 points, or 4.8 per cent.
Singapore's total bank lending in June hit a five-month high on a rise in loans to the building and construction sector, as well as general commerce, central bank data showed on Friday. Loans and advances by domestic banks rose 1.6 per cent to $606.8 billion last month, the highest since January, from $597.0 billion in May, according to data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings' planned sale of shipper Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) offers potential buyers a modern fleet at a comparative bargain price expected to be around US$2 billion, industry and banking sources said.
Shares of Singapore-listed Noble Group plunged to extend its biggest monthly drop in 16 years after the Singapore bourse issued a warning on the company's shares amid a slump in commodity prices.
The Straits Trading Company said its subsidiary, Straits Real Estate (SRE), has agreed to acquire an office building in Melbourne, Australia for A$125 million (S$125.1 million). The seller is Tackelly No. 6, in its capacity as trustee of the Tackelly No. 6 Trust. The deal is subject to SRE obtaining approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board.
Manufacturing and services firms, on the whole, are both not that upbeat about business prospects for the rest of this year, according to the findings of separate quarterly surveys by the Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Singapore Department of Statistics (DOS) released on Friday.
As the downward pressure on the ringgit mounts, Bank Negara has adopted gentle suasion methods to stem the decline. Senior executives of the central bank have had briefings with foreign exchange dealers from local and foreign financial institutions this week discouraging them from entering into transactions that result in selling the ringgit.
The baht was poised for its biggest monthly loss since 2011 after the government cut forecasts for growth and exports, spurring outflows from Thai equities as the US prepares to raise interest rates.
