Friday, February 13, 2015

Singaporen[SGX] Shares end higher on Friday

SGX shares ended 0.21% higher on Friday. The STI gained 7.05 points to close at 3,426.22.
About 1.03b shares changed hands. Gainers beat losers 242 to 183.

SGX: Shares open higher on Friday

SINGAPORE share prices opened higher on Friday with the Straits Times Index up 7.19 points to 3,426.36.
Volume was 49.2 million shares worth S$125.2 million.
Gainers outnumbered losers 104 to 48.

SGX issues 'trade with caution' note on United Engineers

THE Singapore Exchange (SGX) issued a "trade with caution" note on United Engineers on Friday in view of the substantial 7.52 per cent increase in its share price on Thursday.
United Engineers has responded on Friday that other than the announcements relating to discussions by controlling shareholders previously announced in August last year and February this year, "it was not aware of any other reasons that could possibly explain the trading in its securities".

The group had disclosed previously that its controlling shareholders, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd and Great Eastern Holdings Ltd, have been approached by a party in connection with a possible transaction relating to their combined stakes in United Engineers and WBL Corporation Ltd. It had said that this may or may not lead to an offer for the shares of the group and WBL.
The SGX said on Friday that shareholders and potential investors should exercise caution when dealing in the securities. "We also wish to highlight that this is the third query on unusual trading activities in the shares of United Engineers Ltd in the past six months," the SGX added.

Singapore December retail sales up 2.6% on strong vehicle sales

[SGX] Retail sales in Singapore rose 2.6 per cent in December compared with the previous year but only because sales of cars and other vehicles jumped 41 per cent in the month, accrding to figures from the Department of Statistics on Friday.
As in the previous month, the car market has been hot because some owners who bought cars between 2004 and 2008 - when the supply of certificates of entitlement was high - will soon have to deregister them. This means there are now more buyers out looking for replacement vehicles.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Singapore Q4 GDP growth seen likely to be revised higher

[SGX] Singapore's economy likely expanded more than initially estimated in the fourth quarter, a Reuters poll showed, after the city-state's manufacturing output in December held up better than expected.
According to the median forecast of 11 economists polled by Reuters, gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter likely expanded 1.7 per cent from a year earlier, faster than the 1.5 per cent growth in the advance estimate of GDP released on Jan. 2.
The poll also showed that fourth-quarter GDP probably grew 2.1 per cent from the third quarter on an annualised, seasonally-adjusted basis. That would beat the 1.6 per cent pace in the government's advance estimate.
Economists said fourth-quarter growth was likely to be revised higher given data late last month which showed manufacturing output in December fell less than expected on year-on-year terms, and held up better than what was implied by the October-December GDP advance estimate.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

SGX Shares open higher on Wednesday


SINGAPORE share prices opened higher on Wednesday with the Straits Times Index up 6.11 points to 3,440.35.
Volume was 63.7 million shares worth S$56 million.
Gainers outnumbered losers 78 to 55.


Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Singapore: Shares finish the day higher

Singapore's GIC buys over $1 billion stake in Nielsen - See more at: http://business.asiaone.com/news/singapores-gic-buys-over-1-billion-stake-nielsen#sthash.UfvtQIWM.dpuf

Singapore shares were up on Tuesday with the benchmark Straits Times Index gaining 16.22 points to close at 3,434.24.
Volume was 973.6 million shares worth S$1.12 billion.
Gainers outnumbered losers 207 to 204.

SwissLeaks revelations-

(SGX)The damaging SwissLeaks revelations are rooted in a massive cache of whistleblower data handed to two overwhelmed French reporters who decided they would need the help of an international collective to decrypt it.

A thumb drive containing hundreds of thousands of documents had landed at the front desk of French daily Le Monde in early 2014, days after the paper published an expose about people using Swiss bank accounts to hide money from the tax man.

At the weekend, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published the data, claiming banking giant HSBC's Swiss division helped clients in more than 200 countries evade taxes on accounts containing US$119 billion.

The source of the documents had seen Le Monde's tax story, written by Gerard Davet and Fabrice Lhomme, and wanted to "give them a hand," Lhomme told France Inter radio, refusing to divulge the source. The documents were originally provided to the French government by a whistleblower.

Singapore(SGX) Shares open flat on Tuesday

SINGAPORE share prices opened flat on Tuesday with the Straits Times Index up 1.02 points to 3,419.04.

Volume was 44.4 million shares worth S$86.1 million.
Gainers outnumbered losers 71 to 69.

Monday, February 9, 2015

Swiss bank failings over client taxes HSBC admits

British bank HSBC Holdings Plc admitted on Sunday failings by its Swiss subsidiary, in response to media reports it helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars of assets.
"We acknowledge and are accountable for past compliance and control failures," HSBC said on Sunday after news outlets including French newspaper Le Monde and Britain’s The Guardian published allegations about its Swiss private bank.
The Guardian, along with other news outlets, cited documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) via Le Monde.

HSBC said that its Swiss arm had not been fully integrated into HSBC after its purchase in 1999, allowing "significantly lower" standards of compliance and due diligence to persist.

The Guardian alleged in its report that the files showed HSBC's Swiss bank routinely allowed clients to withdraw “bricks” of cash, often in foreign currencies which were of little use in Switzerland, marketed schemes which were likely to enable wealthy clients to avoid European taxes and colluded with some to conceal undeclared accounts from domestic tax authorities.
HSBC said the Swiss private banking industry, long known for its secrecy, operated differently in the past and this may have resulted in HSBC having had "a number of clients that may not have been fully compliant with their applicable tax obligations."
Its private bank, especially its Swiss arm, had undergone "a radical transformation" in recent years, it said in a detailed four-page statement.

HSBC's Swiss private bank was largely acquired as part of its purchase of Republic National Bank of New York and Safra Republic Holdings, a U.S. private bank.
HSBC said the number of accounts in its Swiss private bank had fallen from 30,412 in 2007 to 10,343 at the end of last year and it was cooperating with authorities investigating tax matters.
The data was supplied by Herve Falciani, a former IT employee of HSBC's Swiss private bank. HSBC said Falciani downloaded details of accounts and clients at the end of 2006 and early 2007. French authorities have obtained data on thousands of the customers and shared them with tax authorities elsewhere, including Argentina.

Switzerland has charged Falciani, who Reuters was unable to reach for comment, with industrial espionage and breaching the country's secrecy laws. Falciani has previously told Reuters he is a whistleblower trying to help governments track down citizens who used Swiss accounts to evade tax.
Some of the details of the list have been released before. The names of 2,000 Greeks with HSBC accounts was made public in 2010 and dubbed the "Lagarde List" after former French finance minister Christine Lagarde. France passed the names to Greece to help it crack down on tax evasion.