Market Snapshot
Singapore stocks opened lower on Friday. STI down 0.2%; Singtel up 2%; Wilmar down 4%; HongkongLand and SATS down 2%; ST Engineering, SGX and Genting Sing down 1%.
Stocks in Focus
UOB : The bank on Thursday said it grew its sustainable financing portfolio to S$70.1 billion in 2025, up 21 per cent from S$58 billion recorded at the end of 2024. A key driver of this lending was the small- and medium-sized enterprise segment, with S$7.8 billion extended in loans there. The bank also shared that its chief executive Wee Ee Cheong received S$12 million in total compensation in 2025, down 20 per cent from S$15 million the year before. Shares of UOB fell 0.1 per cent to close S$0.05 lower at S$37.16, before the news.
Hongkong Land, Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust : The property developer acquired a 10.8 per cent stake in the trust, for S$541 million in a bid to grow its presence in Singapore’s prime commercial sector, said a Thursday bourse filing. The agreement was finalised for Hongkong Land to buy just under 318 million units of Suntec Reit. ESR Real Estate Investors has been nominated to hold the units once the deal is completed. Shares of Hongkong Land closed 4.2 per cent or US$0.36 lower at US$8.28 on Thursday; while units of Suntec Reit closed at S$1.46, up 4.3 per cent or S$0.06.
Singtel : The local telco’s outage on Monday was due to a mechanical fault at one of its network facilities, it said on Thursday, affecting around 600,000 customers. It resulted in customers to have “zero bars” of signal on their phones, with customers experiencing issues connecting to the network for three days straight. Additionally, about 2,000 customers experienced mobile connectivity problems on Tuesday because of a software bug from a planned IT system upgrade, said Singtel. The counter ended 0.4 per cent or S$0.02 higher on Thursday.
SG Local News
PM Wong: Gov’t ready to roll out more measures if needed; netizens ask if CDC vouchers can be given earlier
As oil and gas prices rise amid the widening conflict in the Middle East, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Thursday (March 19) that the government is ready to roll out additional measures to support Singaporeans.
PM Wong said this as he fielded questions during an official three-day visit to Japan, during which it was announced that Singapore and Japan have agreed to a strategic partnership and new areas of cooperation.