SG Morning Highlights | Sembcorp wins first greenfield renewables project in Middle East

Advancers / Decliners is 90 to 64, with 198.01 million securities worth S$169.84 million changing hands.

Hong Kong's economy is likely to expand faster than initially thought as China's reopening spurs activity, while rival financial hub Singapore is expected to continue contending with price pressures.

That's according to the latest Bloomberg survey, in which economists raised their forecasts for Hong Kong's gross domestic product (GDP) growth while lowering their expectations for Singapore.

Hong Kong's economy is expected to expand 3.4 per cent this year and 3.5 per cent next year, from previous estimates of 2.7 per cent and 2.8 per cent, respectively, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Malaysia's industrial production increased at its slowest pace since August 2021, as weakening external trade weighed down the manufacturing sector.

Industrial output in January grew 1.8 per cent from a year earlier, lower than the median estimate of 2.3 per cent in a Bloomberg survey, according to the Department of Statistics of Malaysia.

Computers, electronics and optical products, the largest contributor to the nation's manufacturing sector, saw output growth slowing to 0.8 per cent, compared to a 7.6 per cent rise in December.

The trio of local lenders, as well as the constituent stocks of the Straits Times Index, turned in strong earnings in the fourth quarter of 2022 as the local economy shrugged off worries over high inflation levels and risks of a global recession.

As at Mar 8, 86 companies listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) had released their financial results for the quarter ended December last year. Of these, 47 companies reported a profit, and 39 ended the quarter in the red.

These companies reported a total net profit of S$5.9 billion, up 24.6 per cent from the corresponding quarter in 2021, data compiled by The Business Times showed.

Singapore boosted its gold reserves by about 30 per cent in January, joining central banks from China to Turkey in building up holdings of the precious metal.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) bullion reserves rose to 6.4 million fine troy ounces, or 199 tonnes, at the end of January, up from 4.9 million ounces a month earlier, a spokesperson for the central bank said in response to emailed questions. The total value of its bullion was US$4.5 billion at the end of the period, the authority said.

"This is Singapore's second-largest gold purchase ever in one month," Ronan Manly, a precious metals analyst at Singapore dealer BullionStar, said in a blog post. The biggest was in 1968, when it bought 100 tonnes from South Africa, he added.

In a bourse filing, Andy Koss, the chief executive officer of Sembcorp Industries' UK & Middle East business, said the Manah Solar II Independent Power Project will mark Sembcorp's first renewables project in the Middle East.

The project is backed by a 20-year power purchase agreement, and awarded by the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company. It is expected to be operational by 2025.

The developer – Meeyahta Development Limited (MDL) – is made up of a consortium of companies led by Yoma Strategic. They include MMJ Yangon Development (MMJYD), First Myanmar Investment Public Company, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Both IFC and ADB, who are also lenders to MDL, have agreed to grant the latter a standstill period until Jun 15, 2025.

This follows Geo Energy's Feb 27 announcement that it had had to make US$15.4 million in allowances for expected credit losses based on dealings with this mine owner, which failed to deliver on coal which Geo Energy purchased. The mine owner had also not met the conditions for the conditional sale-and-purchase agreement for two mining concessions in 2019.

The allowances Geo Energy were related to receivables arising from advance payments for the coal purchase and a refundable deposit to acquire interest in the mining concessions.

The pieces were last in Deng's possession, and he had, to date, not satisfactorily addressed issues relating to them, Metech said in a bourse filing.

The JV entity, Asian Eco Technology (AET) – established on Sep 24, 2021 between Metech's wholly-owned subsidiary, Asian Green Tech (AGT), and X Diamond Capital to manufacture and distribute lab-grown diamonds – had thus commenced legal action in the General Division of the High Court against Deng.