Morning Wrap | Keppel DC REIT Announces Sale of Basis Bay Data Centre

Singapore shares opened higher on Friday:

Today's Volume / Value: 49.73M / S$76.76M

Advancers / Decliners: 94 / 25

Singapore's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) climbed to a six-year high of 51.1 in December, indicating sustained growth in manufacturing, especially in the electronics sector despite a slight dip. Despite potential challenges from geopolitical tensions and US trade policy changes, strong external demand points to a positive outlook for early 2025. Regionally, China's manufacturing remained in expansion, while South Korea's PMI fell into contraction. The ASEAN manufacturing PMI slightly declined but continued to show gains from improving demand trends.

Singapore's GDP grew by 4% in 2024, exceeding the forecast of 3.5%, driven by a 4.3% growth in the fourth quarter. This annual growth, up from 1.1% in 2023, was supported by expansions across major sectors despite a quarterly slowdown to 0.1% in Q4. The manufacturing sector grew 3.5% yearly, while construction and services sectors also reported strong annual increases of 4.8% and 4.1%, respectively. Moving forward, the Ministry of Trade and Industry anticipates a growth rate of 1 to 3% for 2025 amidst global economic shifts.