Asian stocks looked set for a cautious start Thursday after the dollar climbed and U.S. equities retreated in the wake of the FOMC's minutes. Futures ticked lower in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. The S&P 500 erased gains as the Fed noted the coronavirus crisis would “weigh heavily” on economic activity. The greenback advanced after a five-day rout, gold tumbled and Treasuries slipped as policy makers panned yield-curve control. Elsewhere, oil slipped from a five-month high as the OPEC+ alliance urged members to adhere to limiting output as the coronavirus pandemic threatens a demand recovery.

Catalist-listed glove manufacturer UG Healthcare Corporation has proposed to place up to 7.5 million shares at S$2.545 apiece to raise a total sum of S$19.1 million. The placement price represents a discount of about 9.9 per cent to the volume-weighted average price of S$2.8247 for trades done on the Singapore Exchange on Tuesday.

Guocoland is expanding its multi-billion-dollar integrated development on Beach Road, Guoco Midtown, to include a second luxury residential project named Midtown Modern. The condomininum will consist of two 30-storey towers with more than 500 apartments in a forest garden setting, as well as a retail podium, the mainboard-listed property developer announced in a press statement on Thursday.

Quarz Capital Management said on Wednesday that it, together with other minority shareholders, looks forward to receiving guidance and support from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX Regco) on the proposed merger between Sabana Shari’ah Compliant Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust (Sabana Reit) and ESR-Reit.

The Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) on Wednesday released an inaugural publication, Findings and Recommendations on Continuing Sponsorship Work, which aims to highlight areas for improvement following its observations of reviews and inspections of sponsors on the Catalist board.

Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR) cut 159 jobs, or about 15 per cent of its Singapore-based workforce, on Wednesday amid weak tourism demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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