Morning Wrap | Keppel Enters South Korean Market

Key Takeaways:

• Singapore Shares Opened Lower on Wednesday

• Tech Sell-Off Drags Nasdaq and S&P 500 Down

• Rising Living Costs Drastically Weaken Singapore's Financial Resilience

• Stocks to Watch: Keppel, IHH Healthcare, etc.

📌 Market Snapshot

Today's Volume / Value: 17.86M / S$53.23M

Advancers / Decliners: 39 / 67

🇺🇸 Wall Street Summary

Tech Sell-Off Drags Nasdaq and S&P 500 Down

On Tuesday, a technology sell-off pulled down the $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ by 1% to close at 25,678.82 and the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ by 0.3% to 7,386.65. In contrast, the $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ bucked the trend, gaining 0.2% to finish at 50,872.11 after a late-session rally.

This downturn reflects recent market volatility following the Nasdaq's record high last week. Tuesday's losses were driven by sharp drops in multiple tech stocks, led by $Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI.US)$ (down 17.2%), $IonQ Inc (IONQ.US)$ (down 9.7%), $IREN Ltd (IREN.US)$ (down 8.7%), $Lumentum (LITE.US)$ (down 8.2%), $Marvell Technology (MRVL.US)$ (down 7.6%), and $Corning (GLW.US)$ (down 7.3%).

🇸🇬 Breaking News

Rising Living Costs Drastically Weaken Singapore's Financial Resilience

Sun Life's 2026 Index reveals that rising living costs have severely weakened Singapore's financial resilience, dropping highly resilient households from 34% to 21% and squeezing even high earners. Driven by soaring essential costs, over half of households now prioritize daily expenses over retirement savings, resorting to spending cuts, drawing down savings, and using generative AI for financial advice.

US Proposes 12.5% Tariff on Singapore Amid Disputed Forced Labor Claims

The U.S. Trade Representative has proposed a 12.5% Section 301 tariff on Singapore over alleged forced labor import failures, threatening about one-third of Singapore's domestic exports to the U.S. Singapore has strongly rejected the proposal, noting it has no history of forced labor goods and has actually run a trade deficit with the U.S. for over twenty years. Despite the weak factual basis, these highly durable tariffs carry no expiration date, with a hearing set for July 7.

🔔 Stocks to Watch

$Keppel (BN4.SG)$ has entered South Korea's data center market with a planned 60-megawatt, AI-ready greenfield facility in Ansan, targeted for service by 2030. Developed through Keppel Data Centre Fund III—which holds an effective 73% stake in the land-owning entity—the Tier III-equivalent facility has secured all necessary permits and power approvals to serve hyperscalers and cloud providers, marking Keppel's first data center project in the country.

$IHH (Q0F.SG)$'s first ambulatory care unit, Parkway MediCentre, has integrated Aevice Health's wearable sensor into a new home-based paediatric asthma monitoring programme. Using the bottle cap-sized AeviceMD device to continuously track children's lung sounds during sleep, the program helps clinicians detect variable symptoms that are easily missed during clinic visits.

$Mooreast (1V3.SG)$ has completed a fully subscribed private placement of 44.45 million new ordinary shares at S$0.135 each, raising approximately S$6 million in gross proceeds (S$5.8 million net) to fund ongoing projects and working capital. The placement price represents a 2.03% discount to the May 22 average, with the newly issued shares accounting for 14.65% of the company's enlarged share capital.

$SingaporeKitchen (5WG.SG)$'s CEO Chua Chwee Choo and senior manager Koh Sai Eng will retain their roles despite being charged with accounting fraud and falsifying financial records. SKE's board stated that business will proceed normally and both executives will remain in office ahead of their July 1, 2026 court hearing, though the company will reassess their positions if further material developments occur.

$EliteUKREIT GBP (MXNU.SG)$, listed on the Singapore Exchange, has been included under the CPFIS Ordinary Account starting June 9, allowing investors to purchase its units using CPF savings. The REIT also offers dual-currency (SGD/GBP) trading, which enhances transaction flexibility and cost efficiency for SGD-based investors.

🧾 Share Buy Back Transactions

Source: Business Times, SGinvestors.io, Business Review

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