Oil dips but bounces off low on hopes for demand boost from China stimulus. Oil prices almost fully recovered from a sharp drop on Monday, paring losses as investors bet China's economic stimulus moves would lift crude demand in the world's No. 2 economy.

China to raise export tax rebates amid trade war. China will increase export tax rebates from Nov 1 and quicken export tax rebate payments to support foreign trade, the cabinet said on Monday, as a trade war with the United States escalates. The tax rebate will be raised to 16 per cent for those exports currently getting a rebate of 15 per cent or 13 per cent, the cabinet said.

Singapore gives bondholders new way to chase default losses. Court-appointed managers will now be able to seek funding from investors unrelated to the case to pay the cost of pursuing claims, in exchange for part of the proceeds. That change came under the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act, which was passed by lawmakers on Oct 1.

Microsoft invests in Grab as ride hailer adopts Azure platform. Microsoft Corp will invest an unspecified amount in Grab as the ride-hailing giant adopts the US company's Azure as its preferred platform for cloud services. Under the five-year deal, the companies will collaborate on technologies including big data, artificial intelligence and connected car platforms. Grab counts Amazon Web Services among its existing cloud suppliers and has worked in the past with major shareholder Didi Chuxing to adopt new technologies.

Mermaid Maritime awarded US$17m contract in unnamed Gulf state. The six-month contract, which will run from May to October 2019, has an initial value of US$17 million, according to the announcement. It involves a dive support vessel campaign for an unspecified international engineering, procurement, construction and installation contractor.

Sub-sea cable failure dispute involving Keppel Infrastructure Trust unit goes into arbitration. The state of Tasmania separately sent out its own notice of dispute in March, claiming that Basslink must indemnify it for more than A$100 million (S$101 million) in losses related to the cable failure.

After 19 years in the business, homegrown IT retailer Newstead goes into liquidation. Homegrown IT and electronics retailer Newstead Technologies is winding up its business after 19 years, and its troubles could leave Funan DigitalLife Mall without an anchor tenant when it re-opens next year.

Source: CNBC, Bloomberg, Reuters, Business Times, Phillip Securities Research