Singapore Financial News

Indian stocks even after an unprecedented losing streak has lowered equity valuations. That’s because the market is still grappling with challenges posed by an economic slowdown, profit downgrades and potential US tariffs. Traders looking for bargains within Asia are gravitating toward still-cheap Chinese equities, which are in the middle of a bull run sparked by developments in artificial intelligence.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Gurugram on Friday arrested Ashish Bhalla, promoter of the WTC Group, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with a massive real estate fraud. Bhalla is accused of cheating and duping thousands of investors through a well-planned conspiracy. During the investigation, it was found that investors were promised assured returns in exchange for their investments in plots and commercial spaces. However, instead of delivering on these promises, the funds were allegedly diverted to several shell companies. These companies were used to acquire land in multiple locations.

prime residential space in 2024, followed by 237 sq ft in Hong Kong and 344 sq ft in Singapore, according to a Knight Frank report. In comparison, Mumbai offers 1,066 sq ft, marking a 2.6% decline over the past decade as prices have risen. Bengaluru has also become less affordable, with space purchasable for $1 million decreasing by 9% to 3,617 sq ft. In Delhi, one can buy 2,239 sq ft, up 11% from a decade ago. The Prime International Residential Index (PIRI 100), which tracks luxury property price changes across 100 global cities, has recorded a 3.6% annual increase in 2024. Of these, 80 cities saw either positive or stable price growth. Seoul 18.4%, Manila 17.9%, and Dubai with 16.9% growth led global price appreciation in prime real estate.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. One of the most famous quips about India that has long held good is British economist Joan Robinson’s “Whatever you can rightly say about India, the opposite is also true." A telling example is the contrast between our high position in the world’s GDP league table, where we rank third in terms of purchasing power parity, and our abysmal 119th spot when it comes to per capita income. But one measure on which we have unanimity, even among argumentative Indians, relates to the rapid adoption of digital technology.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. It’s called Bad Boy Martini. The cocktail at the restobar For The Record (FTR) in Goa was born last year when its founder and chef, Buland Shukla, had paan cravings and sought to create a Betel Leaf Margarita.

The five-year-old startup hit the new valuation as it sold $150 million worth of its secondaries to investors including Singaporean wealth fund GIC, Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst, Ramp said in a statement on Monday. Ramp joins other startups in allowing employees to cash out their shares, a move that could delay the companies' IPO plans.

Malaysia, but their actual final destination remains a mystery, the city-state's interior minister said Monday. The United States is cracking down on exports of advanced semiconductors to China, seeking to retain a competitive edge over the technology. But Bloomberg News reported in late January that US officials were probing whether DeepSeek bought advanced Nvidia semiconductors through third parties in Singapore, skirting Washington's restrictions.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. SINGAPORE—Cui Shu, a lawyer in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen, was working in his office Friday morning when a flurry of calls and text messages arrived from clients, frantically seeking guidance about President Trump’s latest proposal, delivered by social-media post hours earlier: an additional 10% tariff on all Chinese imports. One of Cui’s clients, a manufacturer of electrical transformers, was already shifting production to Malaysia.

The coin was down 5.5% at $79,627 at 12:05 p.m. in Singapore, after hitting its lowest level since November 10. That was part of a broad rout: Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, fell 7.3% while smaller tokens Solana and XRP were down 7.1% and 7.8%, respectively.

Nvidia's advanced chips from the city state to Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Bengaluru: Venture capital firm India Quotient is looking to raise $130 million for its fifth fund, with nearly 80% of the commitments expected to come from global investors, its founding partner Anand Lunia told Mint in an interview. This marks a reversal from its previous funds, for which it raised most of the capital from domestic investors.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Indra Kantono, co-founder of the multiple award-winning Jigger & Pony, one of Singapore’s top bars, visited India for the first time recently. In Mumbai, bartenders and restaurateurs thronged his masterclass on growing a great bar brand at The Oberoi’s Eau Bar, which was organised in association with The House of Suntory.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Bengaluru: The world may still be grappling to figure out the scale of upheaval that generative AI could cause. Yet, Indian venture capital investors have joined top global peers in chasing the next disruptive offshoot of generative AI: agentic AI.

Apple Intelligence, its personal intelligence system, will soon support additional languages, including French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese. Additionally, localized English versions will be available for Singapore and India.

The statement offers more details on measures Singapore's equities market review group announced on February 13 to revive its stock market that has come under pressure from a dearth of mega listings and softer trading liquidity.

Singapore Airlines' on Thursday reported its net profit more than doubled in the third quarter, helped by a one-time gain from the Air India-Vistara merger.

Kareena Kapoor’s dietician Rujuta Diwekar recently reacted to Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath’s remark on how in Singapore, no one cooked at home and ate out. He then concluded if such a culture becomes widespread in India, it would create a Golden Age for restaurateurs.

Goldman Sachs on Wednesday bought shares of leading stock exchange BSE for Rs 401 crore through an open market transaction. According to the bulk deal data available on National Stock Exchange (NSE), US-based Goldman Sachs through its arm Goldman Sachs (Singapore) purchased 7.28 lakh shares of BSE Ltd. The shares of Mumbai-headquartered BSE were picked up at an average price of Rs 5,504.42 apiece, taking the deal value to Rs 401.19 crore.

Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) said Bharti Telecom’s net loss widened in the fiscal third quarter due to the latter’s higher finance expenses from extra borrowings to buy more Bharti Airtel shares. Singtel holds a 49.44% stake in Bharti Telecom (BTL) — the main promoter-level controlling company of Sunil Mittal-led Airtel. The Mittal family-backed Bharti Group owns a majority 50.56% stake in BTL.

Nauru aims to sell citizenships for the climate-threatened island.

Osaka Gas Co, Sumitomo Corporation, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Konoike Transport is planning to double its stake in city gas distribution company AG&P Pratham ahead of its IPO planned next year, according to sources aware of the development. This will make the consortium a majority stakeholder in the I-Squared Capital-backed company, which was last year valued at $1.5 billion.