European shares dropped on Tuesday as a revenue warning from Apple hammered iPhone parts makers and underlined the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on global supply chains.

However, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended off session lows helped by defensive buying as well as merger activity among Italian banks.

Milan shares closed at their highest in over a decade as Intesa Sanpaolo's 4.86 billion euro (S$7.32 billion) bid for smaller rival UBI Banca sparked hopes of much-awaited consolidation among other Italian banks.

Italy's banking index jumped 1.6 per cent to close at a 1-1/2 year high, with UBI Banca soaring 24 per cent.

Property investment firm IPC Corp said on Tuesday that the Covid-19 outbreak has negatively impacted the business of Nest Hotel Japan Corporation (NHJC), in which IPC owns preference shares.

Hotel Properties Limited (HPL) plans to add another Italian hotel to its portfolio, this time from Italy's Dolomites region. HPL Dolomites, which is 80 per cent owned by HPL Europe, has agreed to acquire 90 per cent of the corporate capital and voting rights in Alpina Dolomites SRL from Misam S.r.l. for 40.6 million euros (S$61 million), with a net working capital adjustment to be finalised later.

AEI Corp, which has been placed on the SGX Watchlist, said on Tuesday that it expects to report a loss for the 2019 financial year ended Dec 31, 2019. The loss was mainly due to the operating and impairment loss on the disposal of the company's existing business and the prevailing poor business environment.

Security firm Secura on Tuesday said it made a net profit of S$366,000 last year, down 80 per cent from 2018. Revenue in the 12 months ended Dec 31, 2019 was S$38.7 million, down 6 per cent from 2018. The group cautioned that its security guarding segment will decline substantially in the next financial year as a few major contracts were not renewed. Security guarding accounted for S$26.2 million of group revenue last year.

Sing Holdings posts 305% jump in 2019 earnings of S$45.4m. Sing Holdings made a net profit of S$45.4 million last year, up 305 per cent from S$11.2 million in 2018.

Pan-United Singapore's biggest producer of ready-mix concrete, on Tuesday posted a fourth-quarter net profit of S$5.4 million, up 167 per cent from S$2 million in the same period a year earlier.

Oil prices were near flat on Tuesday, pressured by concerns over the impact on crude demand from the coronavirus outbreak in China, but prices drew support from a reduction in supply from Libya.

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