Stocks to watch: Keppel Group, CapitaLand, Ascott, Noble

KEPPEL Group: The offshore and marine group which operates a waste management plant and a sewage treatment plant as well as a shipyard in Qatar has said these facilities are "proceeding as normal", and it is "monitoring the developments closely".

This comes as a diplomatic crisis deepens between Qatar and its Arab neighbours. Reports said the Arab states moved to cut ties with the government in Doha after Qatar paid up to US$1 billion to release members of its royal family who were kidnapped in Iraq while on a hunting trip.

Some observers have said the development is unlikely to have much effect on Singapore businesses.

Keppel has 1,800 workers in Qatar, including 40 Singaporeans and Singapore permanent residents.

CapitaLand and The Ascott: CapitaLand said it sees potential to grow its assets under management (AUM) in Japan to S$5 billion, doubling from its AUM of over S$2.5 billion as at March 31.

And this would be achieved by exploring opportunities across asset classes, including tapping various capital sources and third-party assets, it has said.

On Tuesday, the group's wholly owned serviced residence arm The Ascott Limited marked the official opening of Ascott Marunouchi Tokyo, the first luxury serviced residence in Japan under Ascott's premier brand.

Noble Group: The embattled commodity trader saw its shares extend their decline to the lowest level since 2000 amid rising investor concerns that it may not be able to engineer a turnaround even as it presses on in talks with core banks to try to secure more funding.

The stock had tumbled as much as 11 per cent to 28.5 Singapore cents and traded at 30.5 cents at 1.22pm on Tuesday, heading for the sixth drop in seven sessions. The shares have sunk 83 per cent this year, cutting the group's market value to S$400 million. The company has about US$2.1 billion of debt obligations due by the end of 2018, according to Bloomberg.