English
Singapore stock watch: Singapore banks see surge in loan applications from small businesses
SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) – The following companies saw new developments that may affect trading of their shares on Thursday (April 16):
DBS, OCBC, UOB: Singapore’s Big Three banks saw a surge in enterprise loan applications in the past two months, with the majority of requests coming from micro and small businesses under siege from the virus pandemic, The Business Times (BT) reported on Thursday.
Separately, DBS Group on Wednesday said it will pay shareholders their final dividend for fiscal 2019 of 33 Singapore cents per share on May 26, once it gets approval from shareholders via a virtual annual general meeting to be held on April 30 at 2.30pm. As at 9.21am on Thursday, DBS shares were trading at $19.39, down $0.11 or 0.6 per cent, OCBC fell $0.03 or 0.4 per cent to $8.87, while UOB shed $0.21 or 1 per cent to $20.07.
Singapore Airlines (SIA): The overall passenger numbers of SIA group’s airlines fell 65 per cent year on year to 1.1 million in March, against the backdrop of muted travel demand and travel restrictions amid the Covid-19 outbreak, the group said on Wednesday. SIA shares closed down $0.08 or 1.3 per cent at $6.17 on Wednesday, before this announcement.
StarHub: The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has commenced investigations into the two service disruptions to StarHub’s Internet services on Wednesday, and will not hesitate to take “strong enforcement action” should there be any lapses on StarHub’s part. StarHub’s fibre broadband services were hit by intermittent outages on Wednesday, causing disruption to some of its over 500,000 residential customers. The counter closed at $1.42 on Wednesday, down $0.01 or 0.7 per cent.
City Developments Limited (CDL): CDL is acquiring a 51 per cent stake in Chinese real estate developer Sincere Property Group for 4.39 billion yuan (S$880 million) as it seeks to transform itself into a major property player in China. Shares in CDL closed 44 cents lower on Wednesday at $7.48.
Mapletree Industrial Trust (MIT): MIT will set aside up to $13.7 million to cushion the impact of Covid-19 on its tenants in Singapore, over and above the property tax rebates announced by the government, which will be passed on to them in full. MIT units closed at $2.42 on Wednesday, down $0.03 or 1.2 per cent.
Yanlord Land Group: Chinese property developer Yanlord recorded 6.77 billion yuan (S$1.36 billion) in total contracted pre-sales from residential units and car parks for its latest quarter, 18.4 per cent higher than a year ago, even as the Covid-19 pandemic has weighed on property-buying sentiment in China. Shares of Yanlord closed unchanged at $1.02 on Wednesday.
Centurion Corporation: Covid-19 could cement Centurion’s lead among dorm players, stock watchers told The Business Times. The counter closed at 38.5 cents on a cum-dividend basis on Wednesday.
Oxley: Oxley’s chairman and chief executive Ching Chiat Kwong is involved in a legal dispute with an Italian contractor over a luxury hotel, Palazzo Donà, that he is developing in Venice, Italy, as well as another hospitality project, Fonti Toscana Country Resort, in the Italian town of Certaldo. Oxley shares closed at $0.23 on Wednesday, down $0.01 or 4.2 per cent.
Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/business/companies-markets/stocks-to-watch-dbs-singapore-airlines-starhub-cdl-mapletree-industrial