11/02/2026

BIZ & FINANCE WEDNESDAY | FEB 11, 2026

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Singapore hikes 2026 economic growth forecast

India’s gold ETF inflows top equity mutual funds MUMBAI: Indian investors piled into gold exchange-traded funds in January as prices soared amid rising geopolitical risk, surpassing flows into equity funds for the first time, industry data showed yesterday. Last month saw gold climb to record high levels, double where it traded in January 2024 in dollar terms, while investors in Indian equities held back as an agreement to reduce tariffs on Indian exports to the US had yet to be reached. Gold ETFs are easier to buy and hold than physical gold and India is one of the world’s biggest markets for the metal. “We saw extreme volatility in the markets in January, particularly due to US government’s intervention in Venezuela and imposition of new tariffs,” said Venkat Chalasani, chief executive at Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). Net inflows into Indian equity mutual funds fell 14.35% month-on-month to 240.29 billion rupees (RM10.4 billion) – the second straight month of decline. Flows to gold exchange-traded funds meanwhile, more than doubled from the previous month to 240.4 billion rupees, putting them just ahead of equity flows for the first time, AMFI data showed. Equity mutual funds have seen uninterrupted monthly inflows since February 2021, powered by systematic investment plans (SIPs), government reforms and supportive central bank policy. That steady domestic money has helped the market shrug off relentless foreign selling and turbo-charged a post-Covid rally in stocks. Inflows into equities through SIPs remained largely unchanged from the previous month at 310.02 billion rupees in January, the data showed. The benchmark Nifty 50 and Sensex dropped 3.1% and 3.5% in January, while the broader small-caps and mid-caps fell 4.7% and 3.4%, respectively. On the other hand, spot gold prices rose about 13% during the month, marking their sixth consecutive monthly rise. “Investor behaviour is becoming more balanced and risk-aware, with allocations gradually shifting toward stability, diversification, and valuation comfort rather than aggressive positioning in slightly riskier segments,” said Himanshu Srivastava, principal of manager research at Morningstar Investment Research India.

SINGAPORE: Singapore raised its growth forecast for this year to a range of 2% to 4% after a stronger-than-expected finish to 2025, saying yesterday that the global economic outlook was supportive and the AI investment boom would boost exports. The city-state’s economy grew 6.9% in the fourth quarter of 2025 from a year earlier, higher than an official advance estimate of 5.7%, government data showed. On a quarter-on-quarter, seasonally adjusted basis, gross domestic product expanded 2.1% in the October-December period, also

said the central bank remained comfortable with its assessment that inflation was heading towards its 1% to 2% forecast range, and would keep close tabs on global inflation trends in its policy reviews. “MAS is now in an appropriate position to respond effectively to any risk to medium-term price stability,” he said. Barclays economist Brian Tan raised his 2026 GDP growth forecast to 3.5%, from 2.5%, although he also pencilled in a mild quarter-on-quarter contraction of 0.5% in Q1 2026. Tan noted that biomedicals output spiked to a peak in October, and was 201% above the average monthly production level over June to August before crashing in December. “While a resurgence cannot be ruled out – such is the volatility in this cluster – the flash evaporation of that biomedicals windfall already suggests Q1 GDP is set for a sequential contraction,” he said. Singapore’s full-year growth for 2025 came in at 5%, compared to a preliminary reading of 4.8% and revised growth of 5.3% in 2024. In a separate statement, Enterprise Singapore upgraded its forecast for growth in non-oil domestic exports to 2% to 4%, from 0 to 2% previously. “Robust AI-related demand and high gold prices should continue to provide support to NODX growth, though downside risks include an escalation in trade tensions or a correction in AI-related investment demand,” Enterprise Singapore said. – Reuters

o City-state buoyed by supportive global economy and AI demand

manufacturing and trade-related services sectors in Singapore has improved since November,” the ministry said. Trade Ministry chief economist Yong Yik Wei told reporters the ministry has factored “sustained momentum in the AI investment boom” into its growth forecast. Monetary Authority of Singapore chief economist Edward Robinson

higher than an advance estimate of 1.9%. The Trade Ministry upgraded its 2026 growth forecast from 1% to 3% previously, saying the global economy had outperformed expectations in late 2025 and that momentum would carry into this year. “Against this backdrop, the 2026 growth outlook for the

People relax on beach chairs along the boardwalk during sunset at Marina Bay in Singapore. – AFPPIC

Thai stocks extend rally on political stability hopes BANGKOK: Thailand’s benchmark hit a 14-month high yesterday on the prospect of political stability following the weekend election, while Indonesian stocks advanced for the second consecutive session. Thailand’s SET Index climbed as much as 1% to its strongest level since mid-December 2024, and advanced in the two days since the election, where Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul’s Bhumjaithai Party clinched a stronger-than-expected victory, cementing hopes of political stability and economic reforms. recovery depends on execution under constrained policy space,” said Nattanont Arunyakananda, investment manager of Thai equities at Aberdeen. “The medium-term growth outlook remains challenging due to limited fiscal headroom, which makes broad-based consumption handouts harder to sustain and pushes policy towards more targeted support.” Elsewhere, Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite Index added 0.7% after FTSE Russell decided to postpone a scheduled review for Indonesia, a move that analysts said was broadly expected. The index provider flagged concerns similar to those raised by MSCI about how difficult it is to determine the levels of free-floating, or freely tradable, stock. Last month, MSCI had warned of a potential downgrade to frontier market status, citing transparency concerns, while Moody’s lowered the country’s credit rating outlook last week. The Philippine benchmark rose to a one-month high in anticipation of monetary policy easing at Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ next decision on Feb 19. Shares have climbed around 2% since a data point late January showed that growth had slumped to its lowest level in almost five years in the final quarter of 2025, with the full year pace below the government’s target. Elsewhere, a 3.6% rise in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company propelled the broader benchmark 2.1% higher. South Korean stock gauge was flat but kept its crown as the region’s standout, with a 25.8% gain so far this year. Trailing it are Taiwan and Thailand benchmarks, which were up 14.2% and 11.5%, respectively. Among currencies, the ringgit was the region’s biggest gainer with a rise of 0.2%. – Reuters

“Beyond the knee-jerk rally on political clarity, the durability of the This also reflected in a 28% rise in inflows into large-cap equity schemes at 20.05 billion rupees, while inflows into mid-cap and small-cap schemes fell 23.7% and 23.1% month-on-month to 31.85 billion rupees and 29.42 billion rupees, respectively. – Reuters South Korea says Coupang must address security loopholes in probe of data breach

SEOUL: South Korean authorities said yesterday that e-commerce giant Coupang needs to fix vulnerabilities in its security systems that they blamed for causing a massive data leak at the company. Announcing the first findings of a government-led probe into the incident, the Science Ministry blamed the leak on a former Coupang engineer, who it said was aware of

signing keys after the developer left. “The verification system for forged or altered electronic access cards was inadequate, making it difficult to detect or block the attacks in advance,” the ministry said. “Coupang needs to introduce a detection and blocking system for electronic access cards that do not go through the normal issuance process,” it said. – Reuters

The ministry accused the former employee of stealing an internal security key, known as a signing key, which it said was used to generate fake login tokens and gain unauthorised access to customer accounts. It said the former staff engineer had designed and developed parts of Coupang’s user authentication system, and that the company failed to detect the forged login and rotate

expressed concern over the treatment of US tech companies. The ministry said the probe confirmed that personal data of about 33.7 million customers was leaked. “The attacker exploited user authentication vulnerabilities to access user accounts without a proper login and caused large-scale unauthorised information leaks,” the ministry said.

vulnerabilities in the authentication system, citing records that he attempted to gain access in January, 2025, three months before the data breach in April that lasted until November. Coupang Korea, operated by US-listed Coupang Inc, suffered one of South Korea’s worst data breaches that has increased trade friction with Washington after American officials