SG Morning Highlights | Apec leaders pledge to strengthen rules-based multilateral trading system

Advancers / Decliners is 79 to 101, with 89.74 million securities worth S$78.93 million changing hands.

Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) said in a declaration on Saturday that the 21-member bloc would uphold and further strengthen a rules-based multilateral trading system.

Also, "most members" of the bloc added their voices to international pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, issuing a summit statement saying "most" of them condemned the war.

The declaration, made as Thailand handed over the Apec chair to the United States, said leaders of the group recognised that more intensive efforts are needed to address challenges like rising inflation, food security, climate change and natural disasters.

Indonesia is targeting 170 trillion rupiah (S$14.6 billion) in capital market fundraising for this year, including from initial public offerings (IPOs) and debt instruments, its financial regulator said on Monday (Jan 2), well below the amount raised in 2022.

About 260 trillion rupiah was raised through the capital market last year, including the IPO of top tech firm GoTo Gojek Tokopedia, which raised US$1.1 billion in April.

Inarno Djajadi, head of capital market supervision at the Financial Services Authority, said there were 84 offerings in the pipeline with 81.41 trillion rupiah in total estimated value.

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan said he is optimistic about the city's economic prospects for this year and expects the local real estate market to rebound after the China border reopens.

Hong Kong's exports, tourism and local service industry are all expected to rebound on China's border reopening, and consumption in the first quarter is likely to rise significantly from a year earlier, Chan wrote in his blog on Sunday.

The city's property has been hit by rising global interest rates and economic weakness, with the transaction volume in the first 11 months of last year plunging 38 per cent, according to the financial secretary.

The race to be South-east Asia's best-performing currency in 2023 looks like being between the Thai baht and Singapore dollar.

The baht is set to be powered by an influx in Chinese tourists after the mainland rescinded most of its Covid controls over the past month, paving the way for a recovery in outbound travel. The mainland is also Thailand's biggest export market so the efforts by the world's second-largest economy to bolster growth should help too.

The baht may get an early boost to start the year if December inflation numbers due Thursday (Jan 5) show CPI is starting to rise again, as economists forecast. The Bank of Thailand has already said it expects to keep raising interest rates through the first half of 2023, and any upside surprise in the data may see markets price in a longer tightening cycle.

The sale consideration is a 39 per cent premium to its latest valuation and 2.9 per cent premium to its acquisition price, in what the Reit manager described as "attractive". The Reit acquired the property in 2007.

The manager added that the amount would translate to a yield of 2.77 per cent, based on the net property income for the financial year ended Jun 30, 2022.

The move will bump its existing shareholding interest in Xer from 40 per cent to about 53 per cent, making the company a subsidiary of Rex.

Additionally, as part of the deal, the wholly-owned subsidiary Rex Technology Investments (RTI) will have to enter into a shareholders' agreement that would oblige it in having to inject a capital amount of up to S$3 million if Xer achieves certain technical and sales milestones.

AustAsia Group shares closed at HK$6.37 in Hong Kong on Friday (Dec 30), HK$0.03 below the offer price of HK$6.40.

The company had sold 30.6 million shares, split on a 90-10 basis: 27.6 million shares were listed as "international offer shares" and 3.1 million shares were listed as "Hong Kong offer shares". The international offer received applications for 1.16 times the number of shares on offer, while the Hong Kong offer was 2.08 times subscribed.

This comes after the integrated process technology and renewable energy solution provider's subsidiary in December 2022 secured new contracts in Indonesia worth about RM43.5 million.

Its latest round of contract wins involve the design, fabrication, supply, and commissioning of a new 1,000 metric tonnes per day (MTD) physical refinery plant; a new 1,000 MTD dry fractionation plant; and a new downstream premium specialty animal feed product processing plant in Indonesia, the group said on Tuesday (Jan 3).