Daily Debrief: What Happened Today

Demand for temp staff in Singapore soars to highest in three years: Robert Half

Demand for temporary staff and interim professionals has risen sharply in Singapore as companies rush to meet their deadlines before the end of the year, recruitment agency Robert Half said on Thursday.

Singapore corporates' USD bonds warmly received by international investors

Singapore corporates are hot, going by the strong demand from international investors for their US dollar-denominated bond deals. On Tuesday, two benchmark USD issues from - SP Powerassets and Stats ChipPac - sold well; this was followed by Thursday's Citic Envirotech Ltd USD perpetual deal which closed early at 12.45 pm after orders hit S$950 million, exceeding the issue size more than five times.

SEA businesses, governments remain likely targets of cyber attacks: report

The report, which studied cyber security trends in South-east Asia from January to June 2015, found that 35 per cent of the cyber attacks originated from customers in the entertainment/media/hospitality industry.

Singapore needs to review tax policy: PwC

On the back of recent global developments that aim to clamp down on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) practices of some multinationals, as well as the increasing emphasis on tax transparency, there is a need for Singapore to re-position itself for value creation to fuel its economy's growth, a report said.

SGX to launch SGX-listed FX block futures on EBS Market

Singapore Exchange (SGX) has partnered EBS BrokerTec, ICAP's electronic foreign exchange (FX) and fixed income business, to launch SGX-listed FX block futures on EBS BrokerTec's FX central limit order book, EBS Market, a primary venue for e-traded currencies.

S&P 500 cash hoards are playing havoc with measures of valuation

The problem is simple: if you raise US$1 million and only spend US$500,000 on factories, your return is still judged against the original million.

The STI Today

Singapore shares close higher on Wall Street rebound

An unexpected Wednesday rally on Wall Street enabled the Straits Times Index on Thursday to rebound 33.75 points or 1.17 per cent to 2,919.83. It was only the second time in nine trading sessions that the index managed a rise, but although it helped ease the pressure in the broad market, brokers drew little consolation from this, pointing instead to the low volume which has plagued the market this year - the one billion units worth S$775.8 million traded was the lowest in two weeks.