Stocks looked set for a mixed start to the week ahead of a ramp up in the earnings season. The euro fluctuated as EU leaders failed to reach an agreement on a recovery package over the weekend.

Futures dipped in Japan, and were little changed in Hong Kong and Australia. S&P 500 futures were steady after the gauge ended Friday higher to round out a third week of gains. Talks continued on a European stimulus deal after leaders of Germany and France walked out of a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte following a dispute over details of the proposal. Oil slipped.

THE Securities Investors Association (Singapore), or Sias, does not support any potential rescue deals for Hyflux that lack a “concrete proposal” to resolve the debts due to holders of the embattled firm’s perpetual and preference shares (PnPs). In a press statement on Sunday, Sias chief David Gerald flagged that potential new white knights for Hyflux that have surfaced in the past few weeks have not made any offers yet for PnP holders.

THOMSON Medical expects to post a net loss for for the six months, as well as for the 18 months ended June 2020, due to a non-cash impairment loss in Malaysia and weaker contributions from certain segments, the mainboard-listed firm said in a profit guidance on Friday. The impairment loss arose from a significant decline in the market valuation of Thomson Medical’s 9.23ha freehold land within the Iskandar Development Region in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. This was due to political uncertainty in Malaysia and the weak property market amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

THE long stop date for Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust (LMIRT)’s planned divestment of Pejaten Village and Binjai Supermall has been extended to July 23 after discussions with the parties involved, LMIRT’s manager announced in a Saturday bourse filing. In December last year, LMIRT Management entered conditional agreements to divest Pejaten Village in South Jakarta and Binjai Supermall in North Sumatra for 1.28 trillion rupiah (S$1.2 million). The buyer is NWP Retail, a joint venture between Warburg Pincus and PT City Retail Developments.

COVID-19 test kit maker Biolidics said late on Thursday that it anticipates it will take up to nine months to incorporate technology it recently licensed from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) into a new serology test kit. It was responding to queries from the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Wednesday on the timing and details of the Catalist-listed company's announcement on Tuesday night.

PROPERTY developer OUE Ltd on Friday announced that it will sell US Bank Tower - known for its cameos in Hollywood movies and a sky-high outdoor glass slide - for US$430 million. The sale price is about two-thirds of the property's US$650 million fair value as at Dec 31, 2019. The price was arrived at after taking into account, among other things, the property's market value and the current US property market conditions amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

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