SOME 6,000 housing board flats are expected to be offered for sale in the first half of this year, Parliament was told yesterday. Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu said this matches the sales pace seen in the same period last year. For the whole of 2007, HDB sales programme offered 13,000 flats – […]
Archive | January 23, 2008
YESTERDAY IN PARLIAMENT: GST hike adds $990m to govt revenue so far
$1.17b budgeted to help S’poreans adjust to higher GST: Tharman THE government collected an additional $990 million in tax revenue last year due to the higher Goods and Services Tax (GST) that kicked in on July 1, 2007. Yesterday, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam told parliament that about $540 million of the revenue was domestic, while […]
S’pore brokers check clients’ margins, take no chances
Margin calls, forced selling not surprising in current market, say some brokers (SINGAPORE) Veterans of previous crashes say it’s not that bad this time, at least not yet. But broking houses are taking no chances. They are battening down the hatches and checking the credit quality and margins of clients. Some investors are complaining about […]
Analysts lower estimates after another bleak day
Key resistance levels pitched down as panic selling persists (SINGAPORE) If Monday was the day when fear stalked the markets, then yesterday saw a phase when it took a firmer hold. There was no let-up in the selling frenzy and bourses around Asia bled for the second straight day with the ‘R’ word very much […]
Chinese property developer CentraLand launches IPO
Zhengzhou-based firm’s shares priced at 50 cents; offer closes on Jan 30 CHINESE property developer CentraLand Ltd yesterday launched its initial public offering (IPO) of 245 million new shares at 50 cents each for a mainboard listing on the Singapore Exchange. The company, based in the city of Zhengzhou in Henan province, expects to raise […]
CapitaLand plans to set up Reit for Indian retail malls
It unveils separate ventures with two partners for 15 projects worth $2.1b CAPITALAND plans to create a Real Estate Investment Trust or listed vehicle holding Indian malls as an exit strategy for retail projects that it will develop jointly with two separate Indian partners. The Singapore property giant yesterday announced separate joint ventures with Prestige […]
DBS analysts see US slowdown, not recession
WITH the markets falling all around them, DBS analysts are standing out with a contrarian and notably optimistic view on where macroeconomic variables are headed. The bank’s head of group research, Sanjit Maitra, said at DBS’s annual outlook seminar for corporate and private clients yesterday that he believes that US domestic consumption is not headed […]
Overheating of Asian economies likely: Lehman
Better growth rate will attract massive capital inflows GOOD economic news now could lead to tough times later, an American investment bank is warning. The bank, Lehman Brothers, says that a soft landing for the global economy could lead Asia ex-Japan economies to overheat later this year or into next year. Lehman’s chief economist Asia […]
Investors abroad don’t feel immune to US woes now
They worry how bad a US recession could get, and how badly it would hit the world (FRANKFURT) Since late last summer, the US economy has demonstrated an enduring power to surprise. And not for the better. Investors worldwide are pondering the prospects for a recession in the United States, their latest and furthestreaching preoccupation […]
French economic reforms may spark new dynamism in Europe: S’pore
Story Print Friendly Page Republic’s interested in these reforms, says Lim Hng Kiang IN PARIS WITH global markets in a tailspin over fears of a US recession, the world clearly needs more growth engines. Hence Singapore’s interest in the progress of economic reforms in France, which, if successful, could spark new dynamism in Europe, says […]
Inflation to ease to 4%: govt economist
(BEIJING) China’s inflation will recede in 2008 due to a slowing economy and a drop in food prices, a senior government economist said in a report published yesterday. Fan Caiyue, a deputy head at the economic research institute under the National Development and Reform Commission, said that China’s consumer price inflation would drop to 4 […]
COMMENTARY: Things are no different after all
FOR months, the warning signs were apparent, but euphoric investors, boosted by a liquidity-driven bull market that had lasted more than three years, chose to ignore them. Furthermore, they were lulled into complacency by repeated bouncebacks from various shocks ranging from Chinese monetary tightening to the yen ‘carry trade’. Now, in the space of months, […]
Soros warns of worst financial crisis since WWII
(VIENNA) Billionaire investor George Soros said the world was facing the worst financial crisis since World War II and the United States was threatened with recession, according to an interview by the Austrian daily Standard. ‘The situation is much more serious than any other financial crisis since the end of World War II,’ Mr Soros […]
US economists bearish about America: survey
But they are more upbeat about their own firms’ outlook (WASHINGTON) Leading business economists are growing more pessimistic about the health of the US economy, but are more upbeat about their own company’s prospects, according to a new survey. The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) panel yesterday predicted a sharply lower pace of growth […]
Dramatic 75 basis point cut in US rates
As markets reel, US central bank says it stands ready to act again; its next scheduled meeting is in a week’s time NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT IN A stunning response to the panic that triggered two days of frightening sell-offs on world stock markets, the US central bank yesterday slashed interest rates by a dramatic 75 […]
Why it’s difficult for HDB to predict demand
THE Housing Board cannot accurately predict demand for HDB flats years down the road. However, it will be flexible and boost the supply of flats when needed, Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu said yesterday. She gave this assurance in response to a question from Madam Cynthia Phua (Aljunied GRC), who wanted to […]
Govt rejects Aljunied site bid; offers flood Jalan Sultan plot
THE Government has decided not to sell a short-term office site in Aljunied because the sole bid that came in last week offered too low a price. This decision follows a recent string of lower-than-expected offers for state land and is the first time since 2001 that the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has rejected bids […]
TAKING STOCK: STI ends bumpy ride just 51 points down
DBS, SingTel and SIA lead recovery in afternoon as rumours of US rate cut spread INVESTORS are grateful for small mercies these days – and they got one yesterday when the local market salvaged some respect after another wild day across the region. The 50.6-point fall in the Straits Times Index (STI) would have been […]
Hard choice for Lippo with surprise bid for Robinson stake
Indonesian group can either sell its shares, keep them or submit a counterproposal LIPPO Group, the No. 1 shareholder of Robinson & Co, seems to be caught between the devil and the deep blue sea in the face of a surprise offer from Dubai- based Al Futtaim. Lippo president and Robinson deputy chairman Stephen […]
CapitaLand in ventures for Indian malls worth $2b
CAPITALAND is expanding its presence in India’s fast-growing retail sector by investing in 15 malls worth more than $2.1 billion. The malls, spread over 14 cities, are to be spun off into a property trust after their completion – between next year and 2011. CapitaLand will achieve this by partnering two Indian real estate players […]
US home owner sues agent amid property woes
Case could be first of many as finger-pointing escalates; any player in the crisis may be sued CARLSBAD (CALIFORNIA) – MS MARTY Ummel feels she paid too much for her house. So do millions of other Americans who bought their homes at the peak of the housing boom. What makes Ms Ummel different is that […]
Governments urge calm in face of market turmoil
Ministers in Asia and Europe advise investors to stay rational and not overreact HONG KONG – GOVERNMENTS urged calm yesterday while calling for international cooperation to cope with a global slide in stock markets sparked by fears of a United States recession. Asian markets experienced a day of heavy losses, with Hong Kong share prices […]
NEWS ANALYSIS: Panic and fear, not fundamentals, driving sharp market selldown
Widespread selling creating financial violence people hope to avoid, analysts say NEW YORK – THE fear is spreading. For months now, investors have been lured to overseas markets with the promise that surging growth and solid economic fundamentals in Asia and the Middle East would insulate them from the credit squeeze plaguing the United States […]
Recession in US, Europe could shake Asia, S’pore
Region still relies heavily on world’s biggest markets, say economists A RECESSION in the United States and Europe would badly hurt Asian economies, including Singapore’s, which still rely heavily on these two export markets for growth, according to economists. Indeed, analysts at Lehman Brothers believe economic growth in Singapore could slump to as low as […]
Fed slashes rates in bid to halt share selloff
‘Emergency’ cut of 0.75 percentage points is its biggest in 26 years THE United States central bank slashed interest rates last night in a desperate bid to halt a global share market bloodbath and keep recession at bay. The dramatic ‘emergency’ rate cut of 0.75 percentage points was far higher than expected and the biggest […]
