SG Morning Highlights: S-Reit ETFs continue to see inflows, doubling AUM in 2 years

Advancers / Decliners is 30 to 95, with 55.30 million securities worth S$71.77 million changing hands.

At the Federal Reserve's meeting Wednesday, alongside warnings of pain to come, policymakers sketched out a hopeful scenario in which they are able to reduce inflation gently, while the economy, albeit weakening, remains resilient.

Not everyone in the market agrees.

In particular, traders and analysts who follow the direction of interest rates closely said that they were bracing for a more dire outcome than the Fed had projected.

Singapore Exchange is set to launch its first lithium and cobalt contracts, adding to efforts by commodity exchanges to get battery materials companies and investors interested in using futures.

SGX is due to kick off trading in 2 lithium and 2 cobalt contracts on Monday (Sep 26). The London Metal Exchange (LME) and CME Group already offer futures for both metals, although trading liquidity is still far below established commodities contracts.

Demand for battery minerals is expanding rapidly as the global auto industry accelerates a push towards electric vehicles (EV), triggering big price swings. A global index of lithium prices has more than quadrupled in the past year, while Chinese lithium carbonate just hit a fresh record last week.

Chief operating officer Alex Hungate said that earlier in the year, Grab had been worried about a global recession and was "very careful and judicious about any hiring" and, as a result, it had not got to the "desperate" point of a hiring freeze or mass layoffs.

"Around mid-year, we did some kind of specific reorganisations, but I know other companies have been doing mass layoffs, so we don't see ourselves in that category," Hungate, 56, told Reuters in his first interview since joining Singapore-based Grab in January.

The 5 Reit ETFs listed in Singapore (in order of AUM size) are NikkoAM-StraitsTrading Asia Ex Japan Reit ETF, Lion-Phillip S-Reit ETF, UOB Asia-Pacific Green Reit ETF, CSOP iEdge S-Reit Leaders ETF, and Phillip SGX APAC Dividend Leaders Reit ETF.

Retail investors have been a key driver in the locally-listed Reit ETFs for the past year, accounting for 44 per cent of Reit ETF holdings. Institutional investors make up the other 56 per cent of Reit ETF holdings. Retail investors bought over S$1 billion worth of S-Reits in 2021 and continued to deploy funds into the sector, with net inflows exceeding S$930 million in mid-September 2022. Net buy/sell amount is derived by subtracting total sell amount from total buy amount.

The exchangeable bonds bear a coupon rate of 5 per cent per annum, payable on a semi-annual basis, with a tenure of 3 years.

Should the bondholder elect to exchange at the end of the second year, the bondholder will receive shares of mm Connect constituting 60 per cent of the share capital, at a base valuation of S$90 million.

The property, located at 48 Arab Street, has a total land area of 122.9 square metres with a remaining lease of about 29 years.

The group said it intends to operate the property – which currently houses a backpacker hostel – as a co-living space under its co-living brand Coliwoo.