SG Morning Highlights | Singapore property investment sales drop in Q4, but end stronger for full year

Advancers / Decliners is 106 to 32, with 51.82 million securities worth S$85.47 million changing hands.

The world economy is beginning the new year on a more optimistic note, though that's no guarantee 2023 will end that way.

A variety of factors — a sooner-than-expected reopening of China's economy, a warmer-than-normal winter in energy-strapped Europe and a sustained fall in US inflation — are combining to dissipate some of the gloom that engulfed financial markets at the end of 2022 and fanning hopes the world can dodge a recession.

But with the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank (ECB) and several peers still pushing ahead with higher interest rates, the risk of a slump later in the year can't be dismissed, especially if inflation proves sticky and doesn't retreat as much as central banks want.

Investment sales of Singapore property, which cover big-ticket deals of at least S$10 million, languished in the fourth quarter, according to separate figures from consultants CBRE and Knight Frank.

Figures compiled by Knight Frank showed that on a quarter-on-quarter (qoq) basis, real estate investment deals totalled S$4.5 billion in the latest quarter, down 22 per cent. However, S$31.9 billion of investment sales of property were sealed in 2022, up 20.4 per cent from S$26.5 billion in 2021.

CBRE's data showed that preliminary real estate investment sales declined 55.6 per cent qoq to S$3.2 billion in Q4, with sharp falls in retail and residential asset sales. Although investor sentiment softened over the second half of 2022, full-year investment sales came in at about S$30.3 billion, or a 9.8 per cent rise year on year (yoy), driven by strong sales in the first half of 2022.

Consumers inflation in the United States slipped in December to the lowest level in more than a year, government data showed on Thursday, signaling the worst of red-hot price increases may be over.

As American households struggled with decades-high inflation in the past year, the Federal Reserve hiked its benchmark lending rate at a pace unheard of since the 1980s, in hopes of cooling the world's biggest economy.

Inflation has eased for a sixth consecutive month alongside the Fed's aggressive campaign, fueling hope for reprieve from steeply rising interest rates.

DBS Group Research encouraged investors to pivot to companies with resilient earnings that will benefit from the global reopening and festivities – particularly Asean consumer staple and discretionary stocks.

This comes amid an environment of rising prices and rates, as governments worldwide lift domestic and international Covid-19 restrictions in time for the festival season.​

On Thursday (Jan 12), DBS analysts noted that consumer staple and consumer discretionary stocks have "generally fared well" even as prices and rates rose in 2022. This is because the former is deemed a defensive sector and the latter is seen as a beneficiary of the reopening.

The capital securities will be issued under the US$30 billion global medium-term note programme, UOB said in a bourse filing on Friday (Jan 13). This "tight pricing" is backed by strong anchor demand from private wealth channels, the bank said.

The mainboard-listed company expects the capital securities will qualify as Additional Tier 1 regulatory capital for the bank.

The warnings were issued to the six individuals in lieu of prosecution for offences punishable under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA). The six individuals were not named.

The offences relate to bribe payments to officials of Brazilian state-owned corporation Petróleo Brasileiro (Petrobras), pertaining to rigs building contracts which Petrobras and/or its related companies had awarded to Keppel O&M.