S’pore investor interest in US tech stocks up as Meta plunges, Amazon pops after Q3 results

SINGAPORE – Interest in US tech stocks from Singapore investors jumped last week, with Meta Platforms, Amazon and Microsoft among the names trending on Google and driving increased activity on online trading platforms.

Data on Tiger Brokers showed a surge in local buying interest in Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet, while Amazon came under selling pressure after the firms announced third-quarter results during the week.

Shares of Meta plunged by over 12 per cent to close at US$648.35 on Oct 31, despite the firm reporting a 26 per cent year-on-year jump in revenue to over US$51 billion (S$66.4 billion) for the July-September quarter. Earnings came in lower than expected at US$2.7 billion due to a one-off tax charge.

Investors were also concerned about Meta’s rising costs. The owner of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram said its capital expenditure (capex) and expenses are

expected to climb sharply in the months ahead

, driven by heavy investments in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and higher compensation for top talent.

Shares of Microsoft slid too, closing the week at US$517.81 after it noted that spending on AI will continue to rise even after record-high capex of nearly US$35 billion during the quarter.

In contrast, shares of Amazon jumped, closing the week up by more than 9 per cent at a new high of US$244.22 after the firm reported its strongest cloud growth since 2022.

Revenue at its cloud unit jumped 20.2 per cent in the third quarter, beating Wall Street estimates. The company is currently the leading provider of cloud infrastructure as demand for AI soars.

Nevertheless, Amazon also noted that capex will increase moving forward, and it announced last week that it would be

axing 14,000 corporate jobs across its global offices

from Oct 28 to manage costs.

Investors also raised their holdings in Nvidia, which hit an all-time high just under US$212 on Oct 29 after it

made history as the first company to reach US$5 trillion in market value

.

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang also

unveiled US$500 billion in AI chip orders on Oct 28

and noted at a South Korea conference that AI has reached a virtuous cycle where vast improvements in AI models are now spurring more investments in the technology, which will lead to even better AI models moving forward.

Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, shares of Nvidia, which has evolved from making graphics chips for gaming PCs to specialised chips that power everything from video games to AI systems, has risen twelvefold.

The stock closed at US$202.49 on Oct 31.

Keppel breaches $10 mark to hit 10-year high

In Singapore, Keppel outperformed most of the market, rising over 4.8 per cent through the week to end on Oct 31 at $10.19. The stock hit a 10-year high above $10.30 before closing.

The asset manager said in its

third-quarter business update on Oct 30

that it intends to reward shareholders with part of the cash unlocked from ongoing asset monetisation efforts. It also promised to pay sustainable and growing dividends from earnings tied to its core business.

This excludes its legacy offshore and marine assets, its residential land bank, selected property developments and investment properties, hospitality and logistics assets, associated cash and receivables, and other non-core investments.

It also excludes M1’s telecommunications business, which was

sold to Australia’s Simba for $1.43 billion

in August, with the deal on track to be completed by end-2025.

Analysts reckon there could be further upside for the stock, with CGS International’s Lim Siew Khee forecasting that the share price could rise to $12.71 within the next 12 months, when its Bifrost high-speed transmission subsea cable system is expected to start transmitting live traffic.

UOB Kay Hian’s Adrian Loh said Keppel could pay out at least 25 per cent of the $2.35 billion it will receive year-to-date from selling non-core assets like M1, which could amount to an additional 32 cents per share in dividends.

SGX announces regulatory changes, stock slides

Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) on Oct 29 announced

new measures allowing companies greater discretion over their disclosures

, while ensuring they remain full, complete and timely.

For listed companies, trading suspensions will now be imposed only when there is clear evidence of going-concern issues. SGX RegCo will also stop issuing public trading queries to companies. The financial watch list, which flags companies that have accumulated losses and low average daily market capitalisation, will be removed.

Trade with caution alerts may still be issued if SGX RegCo has reason to believe the market is not fair, orderly or transparent, or sees that there is evidence of misconduct that the market should be aware of. The alerts will be valid for two weeks. Disclosure queries to companies will still be issued where it concerns material issues.

To widen access and draw more initial public offerings, the profit test threshold for mainboard listings was cut from $30 million to $10 million, in line with other major exchanges. SGX RegCo will also allow pre-revenue firms with strong growth potential to list, and ease rules for life science companies by shortening their required operating record from three years to two.

Still, SGX RegCo will retain key safeguards to ensure only issuers “with strong governance and financial health” are listed. Issuers must also clearly disclose material issues to help investors make informed decisions.

The move marks a shift towards a more flexible, less prescriptive regime, and is part of broader efforts to boost market liquidity and investor interest in Singapore equities.

Shares of SGX ended the week at $16.93, down 3 per cent.

The Straits Times Index (STI) also slipped, closing at just over 4,428 points, while the iEdge Singapore Next 50 Index, which tracks the 50 largest stocks by market capitalisation after excluding those on the STI, ended lower at around 1,451.

Other market movers

Shares of China Aviation Oil jumped by 13.4 per cent last week and closed on Oct 31 at $1.52.

The company on Oct 30 said its controlling shareholder, China National Aviation Fuel Group (CNAF), will be undergoing a corporate restructuring with another conglomerate. The move remains subject to further procedures and approvals. CNAF currently holds 51.31 per cent of the company’s issued shares.

Raffles Education surged after it announced on Oct 30 that it plans to convert about $15.53 million in outstanding debt owed to chairman and chief executive Chew Hua Seng into new ordinary shares.

Under the proposal, a total of about 241.1 million new conversion shares priced at 6.4 cents each will be issued to Mr Chew, representing 17.3 per cent of the company’s existing share capital.

To sweeten the deal for shareholders and “partially offset the dilutive impact” of the new shares, the company plans to issue a special dividend of 0.4 cent per share. Mr Chew will not be eligible for the special dividend, which is conditional on shareholders approving the debt conversion. Shares of Raffles Education closed the week at 7.4 cents, up more than 7 per cent.

What to look out for this week

Shares of

co-living operator Coliwoo will begin trading

on the SGX mainboard on Nov 6. Its IPO comprises 80.3 million shares priced at 60 cents apiece – 75 million placement shares and 5.3 million shares available to the public.

Yangzijiang Financial could see trading interest this week. The investment firm said on Oct 30 that its maritime investment segment, Yangzijiang Maritime Development, had received conditional eligibility to list on the SGX mainboard on Nov 18.

It is set to raise gross proceeds of at least $5.2 million through a private placement of about 8.6 million fully paid ordinary shares, at a price of 60 cents per share.

Upon completion of the distribution and placement, Yangzijiang Maritime expects to have a market capitalisation of $2.04 billion.