US stocks rallied on Thursday as hopes for a truce in the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia and a cut in oil output drove gains, taking some sting out of a shocking jump in Americans filing jobless claims due to coronavirus-led lockdowns.

The S&P energy index, down by more than 50 per cent this year due to the Russia-Saudi price war and coronavirus-driven demand worries that has caused oil prices to plunge, climbed 9.08 per cent.

Saudi Arabia has called for an emergency meeting of oil producers, while US President Donald Trump said he expected the kingdom and Russia to cut output by as much as 10 million to 15 million barrels a day. That helped US crude futures settle up 24.7 per cent, and Brent up 21.5 per cent, their biggest daily percentage gains on record.

The Trendlines Group has sold its 18.62 per cent stake in ApiFix, a scoliosis treatment company, to Nasdaq-listed OrthoPediatrics. This marks Trendlines' largest exit by value since its initial public offering in 2015. Its second-largest exit was ETView in 2016.

Hiap Hoe on Thursday said that it expects its financial performance for the first half of 2020 to be “adversely impacted” by the outbreak of the virus, compared to the corresponding period a year ago. It will cease all leisure-business operations until April 30, in line regulations imposed by the Singapore government on the provision of public entertainment, it said in a statement on Thursday.

Developer Heeton Holdings will only be able to attend its annual general meeting (AGM) through a live webcast on April 24, due to restrictions to limit crowd sizes and hence the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

Keppel Land and Keppel Reit (real estate investment trust) said on Thursday that they will fully pass on the property tax rebate to their office tenants to support them during the Covid-19 outbreak. Their tenants include offices in Keppel Land’s Keppel Bay Tower, as well as those in Keppel Reit’s Ocean Financial Centre, Marina Bay Financial Centre and One Raffles Quay. The Reit  owns a 79.9 per cent interest in Ocean Financial Centre, and a one-third stake for both Marina Bay Financial Centre and One Raffles Quay.

Tee International said it will hold its extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on April 9  through a live webcast, due to restrictions placed by regulators to limit crowd sizes and hence the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

Crude prices posted their biggest-one day gains on record on Thursday after President Donald Trump said he expects Russia and Saudi Arabia to announce a major oil production cut, and Saudi state media said the kingdom was calling an emergency meeting of producers to deal with the market turmoil.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he had brokered a deal with top crude producers Russia and Saudi Arabia to cut output and arrest an oil price rout amid the global coronavirus pandemic, though details of how cuts would work were unclear.

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