SG Morning Highlights | Keppel to debut on main Dow Jones Sustainability Index; CDL dropped

Advancers / Decliners is 103 to 43, with 79.23 million securities worth S$79.23 million changing hands.

The Bahamas police have arrested former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, the country's attorney general said on Monday, adding that The Bahamas has received formal notification from the United States of criminal charges against him.

A spokesman for the US Attorney's office in Manhattan confirmed Bankman-Fried had been arrested in The Bahamas but declined to comment on what the charges were.

"As a result of the notification received and the material provided therewith, it was deemed appropriate for the Attorney General to seek SBF's arrest and hold him in custody pursuant to our nation's Extradition Act," the office of The Bahamas Attorney General Ryan Pinder said.

Global public and private debt saw its biggest drop in 70 years in 2021 after reaching record highs because of the impacts of Covid-19, but overall remained well above pre-pandemic levels, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Monday (Dec 12).

In a blog released with its inaugural Global Debt Monitor, the IMF said total public and private debt decreased by 10 percentage points to 247 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021 from its peak of 257 per cent in 2020. That compares to around 195 per cent of GDP in 2007, before the global financial crisis.

In dollar terms, global debt continued to rise, although at a much slower rate, reaching a record US$235 trillion last year.

Malaysia's industrial production index (IPI) growth for October moderated to 4.6 per cent year-on-year due to slower growth in mining and manufacturing sectors, ending four straight months of double-digit growth, according to latest figures from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) on Monday (Dec 12).

The increase is lower than the 8.1 per cent growth that was projected by a group of 10 economists in a recent Reuters poll.

Malaysia's IPI in October was lower than the 10.8 per cent growth in September. On a monthly comparison, IPI for October fell by 3.7 per cent in October, reversing from September's expansion of 0.7 per cent.

From next Monday (Dec 19), Keppel Corporation will be incorporated as a constituent on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, while real estate giant City Developments Limited (CDL) will be dropped.

CapitaLand Investment and Wilmar International keep their spots on the index, which captures the top 10 per cent of the world's largest 2,500 companies with leading environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance.

The reconstitution is part of S&P Dow Jones Indices' annual review of its family of nine Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, which are grouped around themes such as Asia-Pacific and Emerging Markets.

Acquisition of the site is expected to complete by December 2022, while the data centre is scheduled for completion by end-2025.

Including the site acquisition, the project is estimated to cost CapitaLand India Trust some 19.4 billion rupees over the next four to five years. It will be funded through a combination of debt and internal resources.

The national carrier will also adjust the conversion price of its zero-coupon mandatory convertible bonds (MCBs) due 2030, from S$4.84 to S$4.7453.

Both adjustments account for the interim dividend of S$0.10 per share that the company announced last month for the half year ended Sep 30. The adjusted conversion prices will take effect from Dec 13.

The company's S$492.7 million order book comprises S$384.6 million in construction projects and S$108.1 million in precast supply and delivery projects.

SB Procurement, a wholly-owned unit of Soilbuild, has been awarded a contract by the Housing and Development Board for building works at Toa Payoh Neighbourhood 1. The project involves two residential blocks, a multi-storey carpark and a community club. It is scheduled to start in Q4 this year and is set to be completed by Q2 of 2027.