SG Morning Highlights | CDL Unit Sells 65 Units of The Residences at W Sentosa Cove After Price Reduction

Advancers / Decliners is 66 to 48, with 47.09 million securities worth S$72.93 million changing hands.

Singapore's prime retail rents rose 3.4% YoY in Q1 2024, according to a report from Knight Frank, following a strong tourism rebound and major events hosted by the city-state. The report showed that gross rents of prime retail assets across the island averaged S$27.20 per square foot per month last quarter, up 0.6% from the previous quarter. The rental growth was led by the famed shopping strip Orchard Road, with the Marina Centre, City Hall, and Bugis areas reporting the fastest YoY growth at 4.4%. Knight Frank expects prime retail rents to increase between 2% and 4% for the full year 2024, as more retailers, both local and international, expand their presence in Singapore.

Sales of private homes in Singapore more than quadrupled in March, driven by projects launched in the Outside the Central Region (OCR), according to property analysts. Lentor Mansion, which sold 409 units in its first month on the market, accounted for 57% of the 718 homes sold by developers in March. The second top-selling project was Lentoria, with 60 units sold, followed by three more OCR projects: The Botany at Dairy Farm, Lentor Hills Residences, and Hillhaven. Projects in the OCR sold a total of 605 units last month, accounting for nearly 85% of the March tally and the highest monthly sales in the OCR in 18 months. Property analysts expect April's new launches to offer fewer units, and anticipate that developers' sales could likely underperform March's new home sales volume.

The latest OCBC SME Index showed that the performance and health of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore slightly improved in 1Q24, though they remained in a state of contraction at 49.7. Retail, Education, and F&B were the only industries in the expansionary territory, while Building & Construction and Healthcare turned contractionary after seeing expansion in 4Q23. The remaining industries - Resources, Manufacturing, Transport and Logistics, Business Services, Wholesale Trade, and ICT - remained in the contractionary territory. OCBC reported that SME collections and payments grew by 1.4% YoY and 1.9% YoY against the backdrop of bumpy disinflation trends and elevated cost pressures. The bank expects the OCBC SME Index to remain flat in the near term before a gradual upturn towards the second half of this year, with the turnaround in global electronics and a positive outlook for the ASEAN economies expected to have a positive impact on the outward-oriented sectors in Singapore.