Asian equity markets were poised to gain on Thursday, tracking Wall Street’s rally after positive trial results of an experimental COVID-19 treatment, a U.S. Federal Reserve pledge to shore up the economy and a jump in oil prices. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 2.21%, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 2.66% and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 3.57%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled at $15.06 a barrel, jumping $2.72, or 22%. Brent crude futures settled at $22.54 a barrel, up $2.08, or 10.2%. The Fed left key interest rates near zero while Chair Jerome Powell warned the economy would drop at an “unprecedented rate” in the current quarter.

SINGTEL and a joint venture between StarHub and M1 have provisionally clinched Singapore’s first nationwide 5G operating licences, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) announced on Wednesday.

DBS Group Holdings set aside S$1.09 billion to cover the impact of the coronavirus pandemic as South-east Asia's biggest lender reported a 29 per cent fall in first-quarter profit to the lowest in 2.5 years.

UMS Holdings has resumed normal operations at its factory in Penang, following the Malaysian government’s green light, the company announced in a bourse filing on Wednesday.

CAPITALAND Commercial Trust (CCT) posted a 25 per cent fall in Distribution Per Unit (DPU) to 1.65 cents for the first quarter ended March, due to its retention of taxable distributable income and its decision to withhold distribution of tax-exempt income “as a matter of prudence” amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

THE net profit of mainboard-listed Keppel Corp fell 20.9 per cent to S$160.5 million for the first quarter ended March, mainly on the absence of the divestment of its 70 per cent stake in Vietnam’s Dong Nai Waterfront City a year ago.

IX BIOPHARMA saw its shares surge as much as 22.4 per cent when the market opened following news of the company formalising a supply agreement with Cannatrek Medical Pty Ltd to supply Xativa in Australia. The pharmaceutical company’s shares rose 0.55 Singapore cent to 30 cents as at 9.01am on Wednesday, compared with a Tuesday closing price of 24.5 cents.

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