1 China Petroleum & Chemical Corp and CNOOC were among Asian energy firms whose credit ratings were put under review or downgraded by Standard & Poor's crude price forecast, Bloomberg said.

2 Procter & Gamble reported better-than-expected second- quarter profit, helped by cost-cutting measures, but said a stronger US dollar would take a bigger chunk out of full-year sales.

3 JPMorgan Chase will pay US$1.42 billion (S$2.03 billion) to settle most of the litigation relating to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, according to court documents, Agence France-Presse reported.

4 Parkway Life Reit said its distribution per unit (DPU) for the fourth quarter rose 16.1 per cent to 3.37 cents, from 2.90 cents a year earlier. Full-year DPU rose 15.3 per cent to 13.29 cents.

5 SGX-listed Soilbuild Construction has won a design-and-build contract worth about US$9.4 million (S$13.4 million) for work at St John Shopping Centre in Yangon, Myanmar.