SG Morning Highlights: Top Glove posts first quarterly loss since listing, raises glove prices amid challenges

Advancers / Decliners is 60 to 71, with 57.51 million securities worth S$89.88 million changing hands.

Blue-chip counters listed on the Singapore Exchange last year took in the largest cohort of new directors in 5 years, Heidrick and Struggles' Board Monitor Singapore 2022 report showed.

New director appointments for the 30 Straits Times Index (STI) counters came in at 41, up from 35 in 2020, according to the report released on Wednesday (Sep 21).

The Federal Reserve is expected to deliver a third consecutive supersize interest rate increase this week as it wages its most aggressive fight against inflation since the 1980s – and it could signal even more to come.

Central bankers are widely expected to raise interest rates three-quarters of a percentage point at their meeting on Wednesday (Sep 21), and investors think there is even a small chance of a full percentage-point move.

But Wall Street is more focused on what comes next. Officials will release updated economic forecasts for the first time since June after their two-day meeting this week. Those are expected to show a more forceful path ahead for rates than Fed officials previously anticipated as rapid inflation continues to plague America. The question is just how much more assertive the Fed will be.

US central bankers opened their two-day policy meeting on Tuesday with another steep interest rate hike seen as a near certainty amid stubbornly high inflation.

American families have felt the squeeze of soaring prices, which have risen at the fastest pace since the early 1980s, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has made it clear officials will continue to act aggressively to cool the economy.

Many economists are expecting a third straight three-quarter point rate hike when the meeting concludes on Wednesday, an unprecedented action in recent decades.

The days of supercharged tech valuations may be over. But even as investors turn more cautious, there are still opportunities to be captured in South-east Asia, said several venture capital (VC) players and experts who spoke at this year's SuperReturn Asia conference.

Malaysia's exports increased by 48.2 per cent year-on-year to RM141.3 billion (S$457 million) in August, driven by higher exports of electrical and electronic (E&E) products, petroleum products, optical and scientific equipment as well as machinery, equipment and parts.

The exports growth exceeded an earlier forecast of 34.4 per cent, according to 13 economists surveyed by Reuters.

August imports rose 67.6 per cent year-on-year to RM124.4 billion, according to data released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia on Tuesday (Sep 20). The imports growth was also higher than the economists' forecast of 49.4 per cent in that same Reuters poll.

The healthcare-focused Reit is buying the properties from Japanese real estate developer Daiwa House. Together with 3 other acquisitions announced last week, this will bring its Japan portfolio to 57 properties valued at S$758.4 million.

The acquisition will be made at 11.1 per cent below valuation, and is expected to generate a net property income yield of 5.2 per cent. The transaction is expected to be completed by Q3 2022.

On Tuesday (Sep 20), Top Glove reported a net loss of RM52.6 million (S$16.3 million) for the fourth fiscal quarter ended August, reversing from a net profit of RM447.4 million in the corresponding year-ago period.

Revenue for the quarter was down 52.3 per cent year on year to RM990.1 million from RM2.1 billion. The board did not propose a dividend for the period under review.

The CSOV, with a length of 83 m and beam of 21 m, will be used in commissioning works during the construction and maintenance of offshore wind farms. Its construction will be funded through existing resources and borrowings.

The vessel is expected to be deployed in Q1 of 2024. Marco Polo chief executive Sean Lee said the company has received keen interest from offshore wind-turbine makers and offshore wind-farm developers since it unveiled new designs for service vessels in March.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) had asked the construction group and property developer to detail the responsibilities of 5 employees, and state their remuneration in bands of S$100,000 with the upper limit disclosed.

SGX, which is hardening its stance on remuneration disclosure, said that if the company refused, it should give a robust explanation for why the disclosure would not be in its interest.