SG Morning Highlights: S-Reits with Malaysia assets record stronger operating results

Advancers / Decliners is 78 to 43, with 68.06 million securities worth S$51.38 million changing hands.

Bidzina Ivanishvili, a Georgian tycoon who was once his country's prime minister, is expected to testify via video link on the opening day of the trial, which comes just months after his victory in a related clash with the Swiss bank's Bermuda life insurance unit.

The dispute with Ivanishvili adds to the problems the newly appointed chief executive officer Ulrich Koerner and chairman Axel Lehmann are keen to resolve as the bank reels from reputational hits in the last 2 years. The potentially expensive legal spat with the Georgian is one of many that still weigh on the bank's costs, on top of likely restructuring charges amid a strategic review that could see the investment bank drastically reduced.

The Opec+ (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners) coalition is heading into unfamiliar territory.

After spending 2 years gradually feeding idle oil production back into the post-pandemic world, Saudi Arabia and its partners are facing a different market. The narrative that's dominated the last few months – pressure from key consumers like the US to tame inflation by ramping up supply – is shifting towards concerns about a global economic slowdown.

Recent gyrations, including a drop of more than 20 per cent in Brent crude since early June, have prompted Riyadh to say that an output cut could be necessary.

Leading Singapore organisations have expressed concerns about harmonisation, comparability, usability and understanding in responses to the International Sustainability Standards Board's (ISSB) draft standards on sustainability- and climate-related disclosures, a Business Times analysis has found.

ISSB in July wrapped up a public consultation on two Exposure Drafts (EDs), the first related to the disclosure of sustainability-related financial information (IFRS S1); and the other on climate-related disclosures (IFRS S2). By the end of the year, ISSB is expected to release the new disclosure standards under the widely adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) accounting framework.

ISSB said it received more than 1,300 comment letters — over 600 responses to the draft climate standard, and close to 700 responses to the sustainability standard, originating from jurisdictions spanning six continents. Publicly available responses from Singapore companies and organisations included those from the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants (Isca), Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative, Singapore Exchange (SGX), SMRT Corp and Temasek, among others.

Malaysia's economy recorded stronger GDP growth of 8.9 per cent year on year (yoy) in Q2 2022, following its 5.0 per cent growth in Q1 2022 driven by stronger domestic demand, normalising of economic activity and the reopening of its international borders.

The logistics and aviation counter entered this list in 2017 after reporting 3 consecutive years of pre-tax losses and failing to meet a minimum trading price requirement of S$0.20. The company was later unable to exit the list because a new minimum market capitalisation requirement of S$40 million was introduced.

This Watch-List inclusion caused some issues when bidding for contracts, as it came up during the due diligence process for customers, so exiting it has been a relief for A-Sonic.

Metis Energy, formerly known as Manhattan Resources, currently holds 30.2 per cent shareholding interest in MPDPL, while Kaiyi, an investment holding firm, holds 69.8 per cent.

The company had agreed last Friday (Sep 2) to sell all its remaining shares in the capital of MPDPL to Kaiyi, which had agreed to purchase, Metis Energy said in a bourse filing on Sunday.