Singapore Financial News

Hong Kong is introducing a new Bitcoin exchange-traded fund that allows investors to bet against the cryptocurrency, even as the market reaches near 6-week highs.

Bluelearn has shut down operations and will return 70% of the capital it raised to its investors.

Fruit bats are the usual reservoir of the virus, and humans can become infected by accidentally consuming bat-contaminated fruits.When the first outbreak was recognised in Malaysia and Singapore, most human infections had resulted from direct contact with sick pigs or their contaminated tissues. "Transmission is thought to have occurred via unprotected exposure to secretions from the pigs, or unprotected contact with the tissue of a sick animal," the WHO said.Later, the outbreaks in Bangladesh and India was most likely caused by consumption of fruits or fruit products contaminated with urine or saliva from infected fruit bats.Human-to-human transmission of the Nipah virus has also been reported among families and caregivers of infected patients.

DATE: 19 July, 2024

Scientists at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Medical Science and Imperial College London found a way to increase the lifespan of laboratory mice by 25 years and have hopes that it could be applied to humans. The researchers discovered that deactivating a protein called interleukin-11 or IL-11 significantly extended the healthy lifespan of the mice. This treatment greatly reduced cancer-related deaths and decreased the prevalence of diseases associated with chronic inflammation and poor metabolism, both of which are common in aging.

viral photo from an Air India Dreamliner flight to Singapore has sparked widespread criticism of passengers' civic sense. The image, shared by X user Manisha Singhal, depicts a cluttered cabin with a plastic bottle in a poly bag and other scattered trash. «Kuch bhi kar lo, hum nahi sudhrenge!!! (No matter what you do, we won't change!) And nope, not a domestic flight—this is an international, Air India flight—new or old aircraft, we shower equal love on all! This is the @airindia Dreamliner to Singapore—rather a nightmare! When. Will. We. Be. Civil,» Singhal wrote in her post, which quickly went viral, amassing 184.9K views and sparking a deluge of reactions.

A Chinese-led consortium has pulled out of its contract with Cyprus to build the island nation’s first natural gas import terminal over what it says was the Cypriot government’s failure to pay what it owed for work completed this year

Ratings agency Moody’s has announced it will be involved in the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) backed project Guardian by providing risk management services for tokenized fixed income products.

Competition law practice at law firm Trilegal Nisha Kaur Uberoi is set to join law firm J Sagar Associates (JSA) along with her team of 25 attorneys including two partners Harshita Singh Parmar and Pranav Satyam. An alumnus of the National Law School of India University and the National University of Singapore Uberoi has also worked with firms such as AZB & Partners and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. “This move will greatly enhance and consolidate the firm’s existing domain in Competition Law, and further bolster our market-leading corporate and disputes practices,” said Amit Kapur and Vivek K. Chandy, joint managing partners at JSA in a joint statement. “The addition of Nisha and her team to our existing practice in JSA is a testament to our commitment to meeting the complex antitrust and competition needs of our clients globally.”

Oil prices were steady on Wednesday, with global benchmark Brent hovering near the one-month low it hit in the prior session, as signs of weakening demand growth in China clashed with the prospect of declining U.S. oil stockpiles. Brent crude oil futures was down by 4 cents to $83.69 a barrel by 0315 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures also eased 4 cents to $80.72.

Ola Electric is expected to launch its public offering for subscription in the next few weeks at a discounted valuation of around $4 billion, a decrease of about a fourth from its last private funding round, multiple people aware of the details said. In September 2023, Ola Electric had snagged a value of $5.4 billion when it raised $140 million in a round led by Singapore's Temasek. The proposed listing will be among the largest new-economy IPOs this year, signalling a revival of public market debuts by technology-first companies. Ecommerce firm FirstCry is gearing up to launch its IPO soon while Swiggy has confidentially filed its draft papers with the markets regulator.

Go First airline are set to move towards liquidation of the airline after finding no headway between banks and the two prospective bidders, five months after bids were formally received for the Wadia Group-owned carrier, said people familiar with the matter. Lenders are putting final touches to a voting proposal seeking liquidation of the airline after both the bids — from a consortium of EaseMyTrip CEO Nishant Pitti and SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh, and from Sharjah-based Sky One Aviation — were below their expectations. The voting proposal may be put up before the committee of creditors this week, the people said. «Some processes like selection of proposed liquidator, calculating the cost of liquidation and funding of liquidation are being done, after which the proposal will be put to vote this week,» said one of the persons, who did not wish to be identified.

domestic passenger traffic in June at around 13.28 million, more than 6% from a year earlier, and nearly 10% above pre-covid levels; however, airline capacity deployment in June was up by just 7% on year and lower by 3% over May. Separately, one of the terminals of Delhi's international airport, the country’s largest and busiest, remains out of service.

MUMBAI : India has emerged as Temasek Holdings’ best-performing market over the previous 10 years, a key factor in the Singapore state investor’s total exposure to the country soaring to $37 billion. “In the last 10 years across all geographies, India has been the best in terms of returns," said Vishesh Shrivastav, managing director (India), Temasek, in an interview with Mint on Monday. Earlier in the day, Temasek said its exposure to India stood at $37 billion (equivalent to S$49 billion), including the financial interest from its portfolio firm SingTel’s investment in Bharti Airtel Ltd.

water business AO Smith, for an enterprise value of Rs601 crore. Launched two decades ago, the water purification brand is part of HUL's home care business with revenues of Rs 293 crore during FY24. “This move is in line with our strategic intent to focus sharply on our core categories," said Rohit Jawa, CEO and Managing Director of HUL. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, and HUL will continue to manage the business until the completion of the transaction, which will take about three months. The proposed transaction is to be undertaken by way of a slump sale through a business transfer agreement, it said.

health insurance policy in India was due for renewal. Assuming it wouldn't be necessary since she was moving abroad, she didn't renew it. However, a few months later, during a visit to her parents' home in India, Asha experienced diarrhea due to the change in location and diet.

South Korean gaming giant WeMade is planning to divest its shares in Lightscale, a subsidiary focused on blockchain project development, as reported by local media outlet Naver.

China’s ruling Communist Party is starting a four-day meeting that is expected to lay out a strategy for self-sufficient economic growth in an era of heightened national security concerns and restrictions on access to American technology

dollar firmed on Monday as investors wagered the attack on U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump made his victory more likely, while injecting a whole new level of political uncertainty into markets. A holiday in Japan made for thin trading conditions and the early action was confined to a modest rise in the dollar while Treasury futures slipped.

Tata Group is in favour of continuity at the top management level of Air India (AI) after its merger with Vistara. All the top executives of Air India are likely to hold their positions after the merger, people aware of the matter said. While Campbell Wilson will remain its chief executive, Nipun Aggarwal and Sanjay Sharma are set to retain their roles as chief commercial and transformation officer and chief financial officer, respectively. Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan is likely to return to his parent company, Singapore Airlines (SIA), people aware of the development said. Kannan was on secondment to Vistara since 2019 when he joined the Tata Sons-SIA joint venture as its chief strategy officer. SIA had the right to name the CEO at Vistara, while the Tata Group appointed its finance chief.

Donald Trump's election rally raises his odds of winning back the White House, and trades betting on his victory will increase this coming week, investors said on Sunday. Trump was shot in the ear during the rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday in what the authorities were treating as an assassination attempt. Trump, his face spattered with blood, pumped his fist moments after the attack and his campaign said he was fine after the incident.