Daily Debrief: What Happened Today

Singapore retail sales slip 0.5% in Sept; first slide in 6 months as vehicle sales sputter

Singapore retail sales fell for the first time in six months in September amid poor motor vehicle sales, a sharp reversal from a strong showing in August. Retailers saw total takings decline by 0.5 per cent year-on-year, but when car sales was stripped away, retail sales actually grew 3.3 per cent, according to the latest data released by the Department of Statistics.

SGX's volumes will shift around but won't grow much with lunch break: Nomura

The Singapore Exchange's (SGX) reinstatement of the lunch break on Monday will be more street cart than full-service banquet when it comes to impact on trading volumes, analysts at Nomura's Instinet Pacific said in a report.

SembMarine set to win US$490m contract from Statoil

Singapore rigbuilder Sembcorp Marine (SembMarine) expects to clinch an engineering, procurement and construction contract estimated at US$490 million (S$665.8 million) from Norwegian oil group Statoil Petroleum.

LTA awards S$205m contract for Circle Line 6 to China State Construction

The Land Transport Authority on Friday awarded a S$205 million contract for Circle Line 6 (CCL6) to the Singapore branch of China State Construction Engineering Corporation.

Tat Hong: StanChart PE makes non-binding offer at S$0.50/share

Crane-supplier Tat Hong Holdings on Friday said that it has received a non-binding letter from Standard Chartered Private Equity Singapore (SCPE) confirming its proposal to acquire shares of the firm at 50 Singapore cents apiece.

Noble Group tumbles as trader's cash dwindles to decade-low

Noble Group's shares tumbled as the embattled commodity trader's cash holdings fell to the lowest in more than a decade, adding to pressure on what analysts say is an all but inevitable debt restructuring. The bonds due in March also dropped.

Over 100 businesses to roll out MyInfo next year to speed up online transactions

More than 100 businesses in Singapore could offer MyInfo - a service that allows customers to complete transactions online more quickly - as early as 2018. The MyInfo Developer & Partner Portal, which provides the necessary resources for any locally-based business to integrate their digital services with MyInfo, was unveiled on Friday by the Government Technology Agency (GovTech).

YZJ raises new-order target to S$2b from S$1.5b; shares hit 6-year high

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding's (YZJ) executive chairman says the shipbuilding group now targets to wrap up financial year 2017 with US$2 billion of new orders, up from the previous full-year target of US$1.5 billion.

Corporate Earnings

The STI Today

Singapore shares close 0.1% lower on weak lead from Wall Street

Shares in the local bourse closed lower with the key Straits Times Index (STI) losing 3.81 points or 0.1 per cent to cap the week's trading at 3,420.1 on Friday.