05/06/2025

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | JUNE 5, 2025

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Stocks rally after US jobs data, South Korean election

Vietnam’s second LNG terminal receives commissioning cargo from Russia HANOI: Vietnam’s Cai Mep liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal has received its commissioning cargo from Russia, and marks the Southeast Asian country’s first time receiving supply of the fuel from the LNG producer, according to an industry source and shiptracking data. According to data from LSEG and Kpler, the cargo was loaded from Russia’s Sakhalin 2 project on April 10, onto the Blue Dragon 1 LNG tanker. The Blue Dragon 1 tanker arrived at the Cai Mep import terminal on May 25. One industry source told Reuters that the terminal had received the cargo for the purpose of testing. On track to be Vietnam’s second operational LNG terminal, Cai Mep LNG is located in the southern Ba Ria Vung Tau province, and has the capacity to import 3 million metric tons of LNG a year. It is operated by Cai Mep LNG, a joint venture between Singapore-based Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific LNG (AG&P LNG) and Vietnamese petroleum trader Hai Linh Company. Repeated calls to Hai Linh for a comment went unanswered. AG&P LNG did not immediately respond to a request for comment. AG&P LNG said in August last year it was aiming to secure its commissioning cargo for the terminal to be delivered between October and November. Vietnam’s first terminal to begin operations, Thi Vai LNG, received its commissioning cargo from Indonesia. It has since also received LNG supplies from Qatar, Malaysia and Brunei. – Reuters The deal valued the complex, in which City Developments and IOI have been joint venture partners since 2011, at S$2.75 billion. “This transaction gives a strong boost to CDL’s efforts to accelerate capital recycling so as to reduce gearing and redeploy capital,” City Developments’ CEO Sherman Kwek said. City Developments, one of Singapore’s largest property developers, was embroiled in a boardroom tussle earlier this year when its executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng accused his son, Sherman Kwek, the company’s CEO, of plotting a boardroom coup. However, in March, the company said the executive chairman dropped the lawsuit against his son while adding that both the father and son will remain in their roles. – Reuters City Developments to sell office complex stake for S$834 million City Developments Ltd said yesterday that it will sell its entire 50.1% stake in one of its office complexes in the city-state to Malaysia’s IOI Properties for S$834.2 million (RM2.7 billion). The South Beach complex in a central business district in Singapore includes retail space, a 34-storey office tower, and a 45-storey building housing a JW Marriott Hotel. Upon completion of the deal, expected by the third quarter of the year, IOI Properties will become the sole owner of the commercial components of the South Beach complex, City Developments said in a statement. SINGAPORE: Singapore-listed

“I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!” he posted on his Truth Social platform. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Taipei, Mumbai and Jakarta all rose, while Paris and Frankfurt continued their Tuesday advances. London was flat. Seoul rallied more than 2% – pushing into a bull market after rising more than 20% from its recent low in April – as Lee Jae-myung won South Korea’s snap presidential election. The won gained around 0.8%. The poll was called after the impeachment of predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol over his brief martial law attempt and ended six months of political turmoil in the country. It has also raised hopes that Lee will introduce fresh measures to boost the export-dependent economy, which faces a hefty hit from Trump’s tariffs, particularly the huge levies on steel and aluminium. In Lee’s inauguration speech yesterday, the new president warned protectionism posed a threat to the country’s “survival”. On the campaign trail, Lee said Seoul needed to start tariff negotiations with Washington “immediately” but also stressed there was no need to “rush” a deal. – AFP

followed by the US Federal Reserve as it maps monetary policy in light of weak growth and fears of tariff-fuelled inflation. “Growth is sputtering, the second half looks increasingly cloudy, and everyone knows the Fed’s rate-cut cavalry will ride in eventually,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management. “It’s already priced, already scripted – no one’s shocked by the plot twist unless, of course, inflation proves stickier than expected. “But what’s genuinely keeping equities ticking higher is the soft hum of hope – that US-China tensions could thaw into something warmer than their current frosty detente,” Innes said. He added that the risk of tariffs, “once a terrifying monster, now looks more like a toothless terrier’s wag, comforting investors enough to hold their ground despite the global economy’s chills”. Traders are awaiting further developments on the China-US front after White House officials said the two nations’ leaders could talk this week, even after Trump accused Beijing of violating last month’s detente that slashed tit-for-tat tariffs. However, the US president wrote on social media in a late-night post that while he was fond of Xi, he suggested he was a tough negotiator.

o Trump says ‘extremely hard’ to do deal with Xi HONG KONG: Shares extended a global rise yesterday following data indicating the US economy remained resilient, with South Korean equities and the won standing out as the election of a new president ended months of political paralysis. Speculation that presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping will speak this week stoked optimism for a soothing of US-China tensions, though the Republican indicated in a social media post his counterpart was “hard to make a deal with”. The US leader’s ramped-up tariffs on aluminium and steel imports – announced on Friday – kicked in yesterday, highlighting the uncertainty caused by the White House’s off-the-cuff policies. Traders in Asia took the baton from a positive Wall Street, where all three main indexes were lifted by data showing US job openings unexpectedly rose in April, calming worries about the impact of Trump’s tariff blitz on the world’s number one economy. The reading came ahead of crucial non-farm payrolls figures tomorrow, which are closely

Traders working on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. – AFPPIC

Sales of ‘good class’ bungalows in S’pore shrink in Q1 SINGAPORE: Singapore in the first quarter of this year sold only two plush “good class” bungalows, according to data compiled by a real estate group, its lowest quarterly sales figure for the sought-after properties that typically fetch tens of millions of dollars. (RM16.4 million) in central Singapore, which have been selling well with 143 units transferred in the first quarter of this year and 100 units sold in the previous quarter. There are currently 2,800 “good class” bungalows in land-scarce Singapore, a wealthy financial hub of six million people. “These are widely regarded as safe haven assets during macroeconomic uncertainties,” she said. Good class properties must sit on at least 1,400 sqm of land and occupy no more than 40% of a plot.

They are available to Singaporean citizens and permanent residents, but foreigners can purchase them if granted permission from the government, which is rare. A minister last year said no foreigners had been given permission to buy since 2021. There were 44 good class bungalows sold in 2022, 21 sales in 2023 and 30 last year, according to OrangeTee. – Reuters

The weak figures were in stark contrast to the second quarter of 2021, when 31 units of the rare properties were sold among 86 that year, according to OrangeTee Group, which started tracking their sales in 2019. Five units were sold in the first quarter of 2024. The latest figures contrast with the rising sales trend for luxury homes costing above S$5 million

Christine Sun, chief researcher at OrangeTee, said buyers of good class properties could be holding back on the expectation of interest rates falling further this year, or were waiting to assess the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Sun pegged the stellar 2021 sales to pandemic uncertainties that prompted Singapore’s rich to buy them to park their wealth.