SG Morning Highlights | SE-Asia ESG bond proceeds rose 37.4% year-on-year in Q4 2022

Advancers / Decliners is 145 to 55, with 101.00 million securities worth S$148.14 million changing hands.

Proceeds from South-east Asian environmental, social and governance (ESG) bonds rose 37.4 per cent year-on-year to US$2.9 billion in the last three months of 2022, bucking a global decline, according to data from Refinitiv.

Worldwide ESG bond proceeds fell 52.9 per cent to US$133.3 billion in Q4 2022, compared to the US$203.8 billion in the same quarter in 2021. For the Asia ex-Japan region, ESG bond proceeds declined 16.8 per cent to US$29 billion from US$33.8 billion over the same period.

The US dollar fell on Friday (Jan 6) after US jobs data showed a strong, but not blockbuster employment picture in December, while a separate report showed that US services industry activity contracted for the first time in more than 2-1/2 years that month.

Employers added 223,000 jobs in December, more than economists' forecasts of 200,000. Wages also grew 0.3 per cent last month, less than the 0.4 per cent in November and below forecasts of 0.4 per cent. That lowered the year-on-year increase in wages to 4.6 per cent from 4.8 per cent in November.

"There was a bit of a fear that this could be quite a blockbuster print in terms of job growth", which was a risk due to seasonal adjustments that are common in December, said Mazen Issa, senior foreign exchange strategist at TD Securities in New York.

After a near-certain contraction last year for the third time since 2019, Hong Kong's economy is coming back stronger this year and may even grow faster than rival financial hub Singapore for the first time in more than a decade.

Economists are upgrading their forecasts for Hong Kong this year as the city accelerates its reopening with mainland China and the rest of the world. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 12 economists last week was 3.3 per cent growth for 2023, higher than the 2.7 per cent forecast in a survey of 25 economists in November.

Analysts are becoming more optimistic as Hong Kong sheds its remaining Covid curbs and rolls out a plan to allow people to more freely cross the mainland border again. Mainland China on Sunday (Jan 8) ended quarantine for arrivals, making cross-border travel a reality again for many people.

In its regulatory filing after trading hours on Friday (Jan 6), the Indonesian shipping line said the two new vessels purchased from an unrelated third party are expected to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2024 and early 2025.

The acquisition of the vessels is not expected to have any material impact on the net tangible assets and earnings per share of the group for the financial year 2022, the statement said.

Named Wanning Yinhu Hot Spring Holiday Hotel, the dormant target company does not carry out any business operations but holds a state-owned land in the Xinlong Hot Spring Tourism Zone of Wanning, Hainan, China spanning 54,430 square metres (sq m).

Existing infrastructure, including above-ground buildings and fixtures on the land, form part of the company's assets.

Part of the equipment supplied by Oiltek was damaged, but there were no casualties or injuries, the group said in a bourse filing.

The integrated process technology and renewable energy solution provider, also noted that the incident was confined to one new refinery plant building that is being commissioned for the customer and does not impact the group's other ongoing projects.