SG Morning Highlights | CapitaLand Ascott Trust to Sell Three Japanese Hotels for JPY 10.7 Billion

Advancers / Decliners is 59 to 86, with 85.68 million securities worth S$91.15 million changing hands.

The year 2023 was a challenging one for real estate investment trusts (Reits). The key drivers of the sector’s performance continued to be elevated interest rates and expectations of higher and for longer rates. Higher interest rates would lead to higher borrowing costs, lower property valuation and potentially lower distributions for Reits. It would also make Reits a less attractive asset class compared to other assets with higher yields such as fixed income securities or cash deposits. As a result, the iEdge S-Reit Index declined 9.0 per cent in total returns in the first 10 months of the year. However, along with expectations that interest rates have peaked, the S-Reits sector saw one of its best months in three years in November, gaining 7.4 per cent in total returns. This momentum continued into December.

Singapore's key exports grew for the first time in November after 13 straight months of contractions. This was following a surge in the shipping of pharmaceutical products, data from Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) showed on Monday (Dec 18). Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) rose by 1 per cent year on year in November, improving from the upwardly revised 3.5 per cent contraction in the previous month. Sequentially though, NODX inched up just 0.3 per cent last month after seasonal adjustment to S$15 billion, easing from October's 5.7 per cent increase.