Daily Debrief: What Happened Today

Singdollar projected to decline most in 2016 amongst Asian currencies

Indonesia's rupiah, South Korea's won and the Singapore dollar are projected to decline the most in 2016, with India's rupee seen depreciating the least.

DBS, Julius Baer seen likely bidders Barclays Asia wealth unit: sources

Singapore's DBS Group Holdings and Julius Baer are seen as potential bidders for Barclays Asian private wealth business, valued at about US$600 million, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

StanChart shares upgraded by CLSA on possible white knight takeover

Singapore's biggest lender DBS Group would be the most likely buyer, added CLSA in a note to clients dated on Dec 17. Asia-focused lender StanChart has seen its shares fall below a forward price-to-book value of 0.5 times this week, making it an appealing target.

SIAS lobbies for Singapore Airlines to revise offer for Tiger Airways

In a letter to the SIA board on Friday, SIAS chief David Gerald singled out the concerns of long-term Tiger minority shareholders, saying: "These are the shareholders who are not satisfied and may not accept the offer. The reason for their investing in Tiger Airways, they say, is because of the fact that SIA was behind Tiger. This fact brought them comfort."

Some thoughts on the New Silkroutes incident and MTP

There was a large hue and cry in the local stock market on Wednesday this week when someone sold 51m New Silkroutes shares at the pre-consolidated price of around 1.5c each. What this fiasco illustrates is that when a company consolidates its shares, there should be some kind of signal to investors to be careful and to check exactly how many shares they own before trading.

Top China exec spotted in New York after disappearance: media

Fosun's Guo Guangchang has been spotted eating dinner in Manhattan, respected business magazine Caijing said, citing a photo that appeared in Chinese social media.

The STI Today

Singapore shares close lower on the day but higher for the week

Rarely has a US Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) meeting been as widely anticipated as the one held this week, and rarely has its impact been as disappointing...Whatever the case, the impact here was rises for the Straits Times Index before and immediately after the FOMC meeting, but an 8.34 points loss on Friday cut its gain for the week to 18 points or 0.6 per cent at 2,852.84.