Philip Chua Business Blog

Posts Tagged ‘yesterday’

A LIMP trading session yesterday finished with brokers heaving a sigh of relief that the boredom had ended and with the Straits Times Index standing 12.99 points weaker at 2,749.19.
Prices hardly budged throughout trading hours, forcing dealers and remisiers to try their luck at intraday punting, the alternatives being to watch TV or doze off at their terminals. As such, penny stocks were active, … more

(SINGAPORE) Gold prices continued to head south yesterday, with some analysts predicting more selling pressure in the coming weeks.
The yellow metal retreated after the US dollar rebounded against the euro, while firmer oil prices offered little help as investors turned cautious on bullion after it failed to sustain recent gains.
Gold dropped below a psychological level of US$1,100 an ounce as unc… more

(SINGAPORE) DEVELOPERS will be bringing forward their property launches over the next few months to satisfy strong demand from homebuyers, said Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (Redas) president Simon Cheong yesterday.
But Mr Cheong, who was speaking at Redas’ spring festival lunch, warned that many developers are now facing depleting land banks following brisk home sales in recent… more

GREECE’S debt crisis rattled investors again yesterday and sent markets south despite overnight gains on Wall Street.
Reassurance from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that interest rates would stay low for some time pleased investors, who sent the Dow Jones up 91.75 points, or 0.89 per cent.
But concerns over the weak United States job market and poor housing sales data outweighed the promis… more

LAWS to give the authorities more bite when it comes to loan sharks and their accomplices came into effect yesterday, ahead of the opening of Singapore’s first casino, in a move lauded by MPs and counsellors as timely.
The changes to the Moneylenders Act also come in the wake of a rising tide of illegal moneylending activities in recent years.
Latest figures released by the police showed that ther… more

THE Housing Board has released 1,534 flats at two new projects, in the latest move to allay widespread fear of a public housing shortage.
Yesterday, it launched 750 build-to-order (BTO) units in Punggol and 784 in Woodlands. A further 1,000 BTO flats in Sengkang and Sembawang are slated for launch next month.
The launches are in line with the HDB’s plan to offer an islandwide spread of 7,000 BTO f… more

POLICYHOLDERS of NTUC Income can expect a surprise bonus this year to commemorate its 40th anniversary. Yesterday, its chief executive Tan Suee Chieh told The Straits Times that it is likely to do ’something special’ for its customers to mark the anniversary.
Details will be announced when the insurance cooperative posts its investment performance next month or in April.
Besides the good news for … more

SINGAPORE stocks gained yesterday as hopes of the European Union (EU) stepping in to rescue debt-ridden Greece lifted the gloom for some Asian markets.
The Singapore market posted gains for a second straight session, with investors rummaging for bargains among stocks that had been sold down last week on fears over piling European sovereign debt.
The Straits Times Index capped yesterday’s trading s… more

(SINGAPORE) The government’s 2009 budget deficit is likely to be smaller than projected, leaving room for a substantial fiscal package this year, economists say.
While initial estimates last year were for an $8.7 billion deficit, or 3.5 per cent of GDP, Citi economist Kit Wei Zheng said in a report yesterday that a milder recession than feared means operating revenue is likely to come in above pro… more

THE bottom fell out of the local stock market yesterday as a combination of fears took grip – worries over China’s bank lending restrictions which apparently could choke off a recovery, and an unstable Wall Street which has been rocked by fears of radical banking reforms.

Besides the twin fears, there was added pressure from a slight firming of the US dollar, raising ‘carry trade’ concerns where… more