Oil prices jump on drone attack on Saudi Aramco facilities. Oil prices rose nearly 2 per cent on Tuesday after top exporter Saudi Arabia said explosive-laden drones launched by a Yemeni-armed movement aligned to Iran had attacked facilities belonging to state oil company Aramco. Brent futures were up US$1.13, or 1.6 per cent, at US$71.36 a barrel by 11.26am EDT (1526 GMT), while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 85 US cents, or 1.4 per cent, at US$61.89 per barrel.

Trump expected to sign order paving way for US telecoms ban on Huawei. US President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order this week barring US companies from using telecommunications equipment made by firms posing a national security risk, paving the way for a ban on doing business with China's Huawei, three US officials familiar with the plan told Reuters.

US warns EU over 'poison pill' defence plans. The United States has sent a stern warning to the European Union that its plans to boost defence cooperation within the bloc could unravel decades of transatlantic cooperation and damage the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato). A May 1 letter from two of US President Donald Trump's top defence officials, obtained by AFP, is the latest sign of deep misgivings in Washington about the EU's push to make its military spending more coherent.

Home prices in the US climb at slower pace as inventory rises. US home prices rose at a slower rate in the first quarter as more owners listed their properties for sale, according to the National Association of Realtors. The median price for a previously owned single-family house increased 3.9 per cent from a year earlier to US$254,800, the Realtors group said in a report Tuesday. Prices rose in 153 of 178 metropolitan areas measured. Thirteen regions had price increases of 10 per cent or more, down from 14 in the fourth quarter.

Yanlord Land Q1 net profit falls 59% to 323m yuan. China-Based property developer Yanlord Land on Tuesday posted a net profit of 323 million yuan (S$64.3 million) in the first quarter, down 59 per cent from the same period a year earlier. Revenue in the three months ended March 31 fell 50 per cent to 3.6 billion yuan, due to the decrease in gross floor area delivered, in line with the group's delivery schedule for the first quarter.

Hyflux clarifies it has not received binding offer from Utico. No binding offer to invest in Hyflux has been submitted by Utico, Hyflux said on Tuesday, contrary to a Reuters report that was published over the weekend. In the report dated May 12 titled UAE's Utico submits binding offer to invest in Hyflux: CEO, Utico's chief executive Richard Menezes was quoted as telling Reuters that the United Arab Emirates-based utility firm had submitted a binding term sheet to Hyflux last week.

Source: SGX Masnet, The Business Times, Bloomberg, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, PSR