Asian stocks looked set to start August in mixed fashion amid a resurgence in Covid-19 cases and simmering U.S.-China tensions. Currencies were little changed. Futures pointed higher in Japan, dipped in Hong Kong and were flat in Australia. S&P 500 contracts fluctuated in early trading. Infections are picking up again in some U.S. states and a senior Federal Reserve official on Sunday urged Congress to act to support Americans laid off due to the pandemic and suggested a fresh lockdown. In Australia, Victoria state tightened restrictions and declared a state of disaster as cases skyrocket, while the Philippines imposed a stricter lockdown for capital Manila and nearby areas. Oil dipped and gold rose.

Manulife US Real Estate Investment Trust, today reported its gross revenue of US$98.6 million and net property income of US$62.2 million for the first half ended 30 June 2020, recording year-on-year increases of 18.3% and 18.8% respectively. The robust growth in income is largely due to contributions from Centerpointe and Capitol acquired in FY 2019, partially offset by lower rental income mainly from Michelson and lower portfolio carpark income. For 1H 2020, the REIT reported a 20.0% YoY increase in distributable income to US$48.0 million. This translated to a DPU of 3.05 US cents, 0.3% higher as compared to the same period a year ago.

DBS, which says a third of its customers had negative cash flow in January to June 2020, is ramping up its suite of digital financial planning solutions and tools to empower Singaporeans for a head start in retirement planning and boost their financial resilience amid these tough times.

The Temasek Holdings unit that last October made a voluntary pre-conditional partial offer for Keppel Corporation will decide by end-August whether to invoke the material adverse change (MAC) pre-condition based on Keppel's second quarter results.

As Hong Kong's stock market prepares for billions of dollars in sales of new shares, global fund managers have a big challenge - competing with the city's army of mom-and-pop investors for a slice of the pie. Record participation by retail investors in a recent Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) and sky-high demand in some other IPOs has forced big investors to hold onto newly listed shares.

Foreign investors made record net purchases of Chinese bonds traded through the country's Bond Connect programme in July, boosted by record yield premiums over US debt. Net inflows into Chinese bonds through Bond Connect, which gives global investors access to the country's onshore bond market through Hong Kong, totalled 75.5 billion yuan (S$14.87 billion) in July, Bond Connect said in a statement dated Friday.

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