SINGAPORE (Oct 14): US President Donald Trump said on Oct 9 that there was “a very good chance” that the US and China will finally reach a trade agreement.
“If we can make a deal, we’re going to make a deal; there’s a really good chance,” he said. “In my opinion, China wants to make a deal more than I do.”
But even as Trump expressed fresh optimism, China has lowered expectations for significant progress from the latest trade talks with the US, Chinese government officials told Reuters.
Technically, both parties want this trade war to end, but the Communist Party of China officials are not optimistic about the size or scope of any agreement with Washington in the short term. Both parties are meeting on Oct 10 and 11 to try to end the trade war.
Over in Hong Kong, violence has reached a state of lawlessness and “rioters” are destroying the city, said Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Oct 8. Lam said she would not rule out accepting help from Beijing to tackle the violent situation, but insisted that Hong Kong is equipped to handle things.
Violence escalated in Hong Kong as mainland China celebrated its Golden Week from Oct 1 to 7. During this period, Hong Kong’s economy lost about HK$2.8 billion ($492 million), while damage to certain business sectors could go up to HK$1.89 billion.
Singapore, however, could turn out to be the unlikely benefactor of Hong Kong’s misfortune. Spooked investors could lead to as much as US$4 billion ($5.5 billion) worth of Hong Kong dollar deposits being redirected to the city state. Bloomberg reported that the figure is on the upper end of an estimate by investment bank Goldman Sachs of the money that investors have moved to Singapore amid the protests.
Stocks to watch
Shares in Y Ventures Group gained as much as 5.19% on the morning of Oct 10, trading at 14.5 cents, but settled to closed at 13.7 cents for the day, with around 23.5 million shares traded, after the group announced that it had completed its placement of about 24.6 million new ordinary shares at 8.12 cents apiece. Following the completion of the placement, the total issued and paid-up share capital of Y Ventures increased from 205 million shares to about 229.7 million shares. The group intends to raise about $2 million from this placement.
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“Using the new proceeds to further augment our business growth and with our e-commerce expertise and proprietary online data analytics capabilities, we are confident in paving the way to become a vital player in the digital ecosphere in the future,” says Y Venture’s executive chairman and director Eric Lew, who has also acquired a 10% stake in the group from major shareholder and managing director Adam Low.
Meanwhile, shares in Hotel Properties jumped about 5.9%, or 21 cents, on Oct 8 to close at $3.76. This triggered queries from the Singapore Exchange, to which the group responded saying it was not aware of any information that had not been previously announced, and neither did it have an explanation for this unusual price movement. It also said that it was in compliance with listing rules. Shares in Hotel Properties closed 0.82% lower on Oct 10 at $3.63.
Keppel Corp’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Keppel Offshore and Marine, has finally reached a settlement with Sete Brasil over the long outstanding issue surrounding the construction of six semisubmersible drilling rigs. Keppel O&M announced on Oct 7 that wholly-owned subsidiaries Fernvale and FELS Offshore entered into a settlement agreement with subsidiaries of Sete Brasil — Urca, Frade, Bracuhy, Portogalo, Mangaratiba and Botinas.
The settlement agreement is in relation to the engineering, procurement and construction contracts for the construction of six semisubmersible drilling rigs for these six Sete Brasil subsidiaries. As part of the agreement, Fernvale will take over ownership of the uncompleted rigs, which arose from the performance of the EPC contracts with Bracuhy, Portogalo, Mangaratiba and Botinas. The EPC contracts and related agreements entered into with these four subsidiaries will be deemed to be amicably terminated, with no penalties, refunds and/or any additional amounts being due to any party. The parties will also waive all rights to any claims.
Earnings season
In the coming week, the Keppel group of companies will be announcing their financial results. Keppel Infrastructure Trust will report on Oct 14, Keppel DC REIT and Keppel Pacific Oak US REIT on Oct 15, Keppel REIT on Oct 16 and Keppel Corp on Oct 17.
Meanwhile, Mapletree Commercial Trust will announce its results on Oct 1. Qian Hu Corp and Soilbuild Business Space REIT will report earnings on Oct 16 and Singapore Press Holdings will release its results on Oct 17.
