SG Morning Highlights | Singapore's headline inflation averaged 6.1% in 2022, core inflation at 4.1%
Good morning mooers! Here are things you need to know about today's Singapore:
●Singapore shares opened higher on Thursday; STI up 0.31%
●Singapore shophouse sales sink 35.6% in H2 2022
●Stocks to watch: Koh Brothers Eco Engineering, ComfortDelgro
-moomoo News SG
Market Trend
Singapore shares opened higher on Thursday. The $FTSE Singapore Straits Time Index(.STI.SG$ added 0.31 per cent to 3,363.10 as at 9.41am.
Advancers / Decliners is 240 to 99, with 272.69 million securities worth S$289.52 million changing hands.
Breaking News
Singapore's inflation in 2022 came close to official forecast numbers, as price increases in December largely held steady, data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) showed on Wednesday (Jan 25).
Headline inflation last year was 6.1 per cent year on year, while core inflation, which excludes accommodation and private transport, came in 4.1 per cent year on year. Both figures were just 0.1 percentage point higher than MAS' and MTI's forecast.
In 2021 however, headline inflation was just 2.3 per cent year on year and core inflation, 0.9 per cent year on year.
Shophouse sales in Singapore dwindled to some S$625.6 million in the second half of 2022, down 35.6 per cent from the first half in the same year as investors turned wary amid interest rate hikes.
This is also a 38.7 per cent year-on-year decrease and a stark contrast from the "record-breaking performance" posted every six months between H1 2021 and H1 2022, said Knight Frank in a market update on Wednesday (Jan 25).
In terms of volume, the half-year saw 67 transactions, with freehold shophouse sales accounting for the bulk at 80.6 per cent or 54 transactions.
A pessimistic growth forecast for 2023 should not lead to "short-term thinking or knee-jerk fiscal austerity" that could worsen inequality or threaten development goals, the UN said on Wednesday in a report.
This comes as the world economy faced a series of shocks last year including fallout from the pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and surging inflation.
Global economic growth is set to slump against this backdrop, from an estimated 3.0 per cent in 2022 to 1.9 per cent this year, said the United Nations in its World Economic Situation and Prospects report.
$Sea(SE.US$ is considering a sale of Vancouver-based indie developer Phoenix Labs as the South-east Asian Internet giant slashes costs and focuses on its core business, said sources.
The Singapore-based gaming and e-commerce company is working with an adviser on the potential divestment, the sources said, asking not to be named as the information is private. The sale process has not formally started and investor interest has been muted so far, said the people.
Sea, the company behind the popular Free Fire battle royale game, acquired Phoenix Labs about three years ago in a deal that valued the game developer at more than US$150 million. Talks are preliminary and there is no guarantee that Sea will be able to sell the studio for more than it paid, the people added.
Stocks to Watch
$ComfortDelGro(C52.SG$ : Comfortdelgro invested four million euros (S$5.7 million) in a venture capital (VC) impact fund dedicated to supporting startups in the sustainable mobility sector.
The investment in Shift4Good was made through ComfortDelGro's US$100 million VC fund.
The transport company said on Wednesday (Jan 25) that it will invest in "promising startups" identified by the fund.
$Koh Bros(K75.SG$ : Sustainable engineering solutions provider Koh Brothers Eco Engineering posted a 7 per cent increase in net profit to S$2.2 million for the full year ended Dec 31, 2022, up from S$2 million in the year-ago period, according to a Wednesday (Jan 25) bourse filing.
This was on the back of higher revenues – up 15.9 per cent to S$209.4 million – with both the engineering and construction, and bio-refinery and renewable energy segments seeing growth, the Catalist-listed company said.
For the half year, net profit was up 20.6 per cent to S$1 million, while revenue was 51.2 per cent higher at S$107.5 million.
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