Important Factors for tuesday

• The Singapore economy grew by 2.1 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter of 2015 based on advance estimates, the same rate of growth as that achieved in the previous quarter.

• The core manufacturing sector contracted by 3.4 per cent on a year-on-year basis,the contraction was due to a fall in output in the transport engineering, electronics and precision engineering clusters.

• The construction sector expanded by 3.3 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the first quarter, an improvement from the 0.7 per cent growth recorded in the preceding quarter.

• Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) took 44 days to settle their accounts in the first quarter of this year - translating into the slowest rate of payment since the second quarter of 2012.

• Singapore shares struggled for direction as investors digested the central bank's decision to keep its monetary policy stance.

• Singapore's benchmark three-month interest rate eased to a two-week low on Tuesday, after the Singapore dollar rose as the Monetary Authority of Singapore kept its exchange rate policy unchanged.

• Great Eastern Holdings, the insurance arm of Singapore's second-largest bank, raised US$555 million selling shares of New China Life Insurance after a rally in the Chinese company's stock.

• The biggest improvement in payment behaviour came from the shipping and marine sector, where companies paid their first quarter bills 12 days faster than in Q4 last year.

• The dollar again advanced against the euro ahead of key US data that could affect the outlook for Federal Reserve monetary policy.

• World oil prices modestly extended last week's gains in cautious trade as investors digested news of another rise in US crude oil inventories in an abundantly supplied global market.