SG Morning Highlights: Singapore's rising costs of running a business outpace Hong Kong

Advancers / Decliners is 37 to 89, with 98.65 million securities worth S$103.78 million changing hands.

Singapore looks like an attractive location for firms wanting to exit Hong Kong, but they may find a move to the city-state hits their bottom line more than expected.

With inflation soaring to the highest level in 14 years, expenses including the hiring of talent, office space and utilities are rising at a faster pace in Singapore than in its financial rival, where price increases have been more modest.

Accelerating prices haven't stopped the rate of new business formation in the South-east Asian city-state from reaching a 17-month high in August. In Hong Kong, the number of new local businesses has held roughly steady with 2021's pace but is down from a peak in 2017.

Singapore authorities are looking to overhaul the judicial management regime to ensure that it is not used as a precursor to winding up, Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong said on Thursday (Sep 22).

Officials will undertake a root-and-branch study to review, among other things, the types of applicants suitable for judicial management, such as which are the viable companies with reasonable prospects for rehabilitation.

It is possible to bring down record-high inflation in the United States while maintaining a healthy labour market, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Thursday.

Her comments come a day after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 75 basis points for the third straight time, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell warning that cooling inflation would be painful for the US economy.

Applications for US unemployment insurance ticked up from an almost 4-month low, suggesting that demand for workers remains healthy despite an increasingly uncertain economic outlook.

Initial unemployment claims increased by 5,000 to 213,000 in the week ended Sep 17, after a downward revision in the prior week, Labor Department data showed on Thursday (Sep 22). The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 217,000 new applications.

The 4-week moving average, which smooths out volatility from week to week, fell to 216,750.

Countries in Asia-Pacific (Apac) need to address the funding gap for renewable energy projects if they are to achieve a net-zero future.

In a study jointly conducted by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and Economist Impact on Thursday (Sep 22), researchers found that the top 3 barriers Apac countries face in energy transition comes from higher costs of renewable energy, lack of funding for renewable energy and the lack of clarity over long-term profitability.

As such, the region will need significant funding in order to meet its renewable energy goals — in which Asia Investor Group on Climate Change (AIGCC) estimates will take between US$26 trillion to US$37 trillion cumulatively from 2020 to 2050 to happen.

Indonesia's central bank increased interest rates by more than expected on Thursday (Sep 22) as it sought to rein in inflation after the government raised subsidised fuel prices earlier this month, while also supporting the rupiah currency.

Bank Indonesia (BI) raised the 7-day reverse repurchase rate by 50 basis points to 4.25 per cent. Out of 30 economists polled by Reuters, 27 had expected a 25 basis point move, while the remaining 3 had bet on the larger 50 basis point rate hike.

The rate decision comes after the government raised fuel prices by about 30 per cent earlier this month, a move that BI governor Perry Warjiyo said would push headline inflation to peak at slightly above 6 per cent and core inflation at 4.6 per cent by year-end, before easing.

The Catalist-listed company was responding to queries by the Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo), which had asked why the claims reported by The Business Times on Monday (Sep 19) were not announced on SGXNet earlier.

The claims were for the wrongful dismissal of its former executive director and chief executive Anthony Koh and chief financial officer Madeline Sam.

Without naming the company, the Catalist-listed company said in a bourse filing on Thursday (Sep 22) that the target company is a regional value-added distributor with a proven track record of serving telcos and enterprise clients with mission-critical infrastructure.

The term sheet was entered into with the sole shareholder of the company and its controlling shareholders, it said, adding that the target company has a wholly-owned subsidiary incorporated in Malaysia.