Shares of Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) fell as much as 3.3 per cent on Monday (Apr 29) to a more than one-week low after it forecast non-cash impairment provisions of S$3.1 billion (US$2.28 billion) for the second half of 2024. The impairment provisions would lead to the telecom giant reporting a net loss for the second-half period and a lower net profit for the full year ended Mar 31, 2024, according to Singtel. Shares of Singtel were down 2.5 per cent during Monday midday at S$2.35 per share, underperforming the broader benchmark stock index’s 0.2 per cent decline. “Singtel highlig ..read more

Indonesia’s biggest tech firm PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk posted on Monday a first-quarter underlying loss of 102 billion rupiah ($6.28 million), swinging from a profit in the previous quarter. The result compares with 1.6 trillion rupiah ($98.5 million) in adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation) loss in the same period of 2023. In the fourth quarter of 2023, GoTo said adjusted EBITDA turned positive to 77 billion rupiah. The company said in a statement the change from a positive adjusted EBITDA from the previous quarter was due to the planned ramp-up of inv ..read more

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says pay hike of more than 13 percent will be ‘best increase in history’. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has announced a record hike in civil servants’ pay of more than 13 percent, amid rising prices and a weakening local currency. In a speech to mark Labour Day on Wednesday, Anwar said 10 billion ringgit ($2.10bn) would be allocated to support the “best increase in history” from December. Anwar, who is also finance minister, said the salary hike would ensure that civil servants earn a minimum income of 2,000 ringgit ($420) per month. “Currently t ..read more

Hong Kong on Tuesday (Apr 30) launched trading of Asia’s first spot bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), moving forward in the city’s race to become a regional virtual asset investment hub. The debut comes three months after the United States gave the green light to ETFs pegged to bitcoin’s spot price, making it easier for mainstream investors to add the unit to their portfolio. Hong Kong’s pioneering crypto ETFs on the city’s bourse include six funds issued by three managers – Bosera Funds, China Asset Management (Hong Kong) Limited and Harvest Global Investments. Each company issu ..read more

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says investment will help Southeast Asia’s biggest economy thrive in ‘new era’. Microsoft has announced plans to invest $1.7bn in artificial intelligence and cloud services in Indonesia. Under the plans unveiled by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the tech giant will train 840,000 people in Indonesia in the use of AI and provide support for the country’s growing ranks of tech developers. The announcement marks the biggest investment by Microsoft in its nearly three-decade history in the Southeast Asian country. Nadella on Tuesday held talks with President Joko Widodo, p ..read more

$100 Million Investment by IFC funds water and wastewater management projects BDO Unibank Inc. (BDO)’s $100 million Blue Bond issuance helped mitigate climate change by financing activities that addressed water scarcity, preserved clean water resources, and prevented marine pollution in the Luzon area. The BDO Blue Bond issued in 2022 was made possible by an investment from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) as the sole investor. It is the first private sector issuance by a commercial bank in Southeast Asia and the first to follow IFC’s Guidelines for Blue Finance. BDO is the first Ph ..read more

IMDA’s TradeTrust framework enables governments and businesses to issue, exchange and verify trade documents risk-free, with enhanced efficiency and affordability You may have heard of fraud cases involving the creation of counterfeit receipts for non-existent concert tickets or the placement of fake QR code stickers over authentic codes, leading to payments being redirected to scammers. Regardless of whether transactions are conducted online or in-person, verifying the authenticity of a payment invoice or receipt with absolute certainty can be challenging. This is no less true ..read more

Led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim since 2022, Malaysia is slowly leaving behind its troubled past, dragged down by years of political jockeying that led to a prioritization of populism versus long-term strategic growth plans.  The budget deficit is expected to narrow to 4.3% of GDP from 5.1% in 2023 thanks to efforts to reduce subsidies to 2.7% of GDP in 2024 from 3.5% in 2023. Moreover, higher goods and services taxes (GST) to 8% from 6% will also boost revenue to make space for capex such as the resumption of light-rail transit in Penang.  Attracting more FDI looking to diversif ..read more

The dollar climbed on Wednesday (Mar 27) in the wake of more strong US economic data, nudging the Japanese yen to a 34-year low and into the zone that drew official market intervention in 2022. The yen traded at 151.97 per dollar in the Asia session, down about 0.2 per cent and weaker than 151.94 when Japanese authorities stepped in during October 2022 to buy the currency and its weakest level since the middle of 1990. For the quarter ending later this week, the yen is the worst-performing major, down more than 7 per cent on the dollar even after Japan’s exit last week from negative interest r ..read more

HSBC on Wednesday (Mar 27) said it is setting up a US$1 billion growth fund called ASEAN Growth Fund that provides lending to companies that are scaling up via digital platforms across Southeast Asia. The London-headquartered bank is tapping into Southeast Asia’s digital economy, which it said is among the world’s fastest-growing, expecting it to hit US$600 billion in value by the end of the decade from US$218 billion last year. “With a working population that is digitally native, increasing in size, and poised to consume more goods and services especially on e-commerce, ASEAN has so much pote ..read more