Stocks headed for a cautious start Thursday after the Fed's latest comments, and tech shares retreated in the U.S. Futures were flat in Japan while those in Hong Kong and Australia slipped. The S&P 500 Index earlier erased gains to end the session lower after Powell said he’s not sure if the faster-than-expected recovery will continue. A tumble in tech behemoths such as Apple and Facebook also dragged down the gauge.

The Treasury yield curve steepened as Powell stopped short of offering new specifics on the Fed’s approach to the monthly bond purchases that have buttressed markets. Some traders may have been expecting signals regarding plans to target longer maturities. The dollar was little changed. Elsewhere, oil surged after government data showed shrinking U.S. crude stockpiles.

Wilmar gets final registration approval for China IPO, eyes listing in mid-October. YIHAI Kerry Arawana (YKA), the Chinese unit of Wilmar International, has received final registration approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for its listing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's ChiNext Board. In a bourse filing on Wednesday, the group said that listing is expected to take place by mid-October. Wilmar said the listing will be carried out through the issuance of new shares to YKA. These shares will account for not less than 10 per cent of YKA's issued share capital on an enlarged basis, it added.

Du Junhong, a co-founder of mainboard-listed LCT Holdings, has offered to take the company private in a move that values it at some S$21 million. hrough investment vehicle Superior Partners Limited, Dr Du on Wednesday made a voluntary conditional cash offer to acquire all the ordinary shares in LCT at S$0.60 per share. There are more than 35 million issued shares. Dr Du does not hold any shares but has a 19.72 per cent deemed interest through his holdings in Longdu Investment Limited, Longpartner Investment Limited and Triple Bonus Investment Pte Limited. He and LCT's other co-founders have undertaken to accept the offer. They hold a 27.65 per cent interest combined.

The independent directors of Teckwah Industrial Corporation are recommending shareholders accept a voluntary conditional cash offer of S$0.65 per share from Clementine Investments, which is looking to take the mainboard-listed packaging, printing and logistics firm private. RHT said the offer price represents a premium of about 17.8 per cent over the volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of Teckwah shares on Aug 7, which is the last trading day before the release of the offer announcement.

PropNex Realty, a subsidiary of mainboard-listed real estate agency PropNex Limited, will roll out a S$7.3 million career enhancement package to equip its 8,700 sales agents with skills to perform "in the new norms of the real estate industry", it said in a bourse filing on Wednesday. The package includes S$3.05 million spending on digital transformation tools, S$2.95 million in training subsidies, and S$1.3 million to support agents' expenses in upgrading their real estate skills and activities.

PwC issued its final audit report on Best World International (BWI). This was followed by a commentary in The Business Times on July 30, 2020, which concluded that BWI's founders should assist minority investors by offering to buy them out.

Carousell to surpass $1.2b valuation with Naver investment. A consortium led by South Korean Internet giant Naver has struck an investment deal with classifieds platform Carousell worth US$80 million (S$109 million). Following the deal, the Singapore-headquartered start-up will be valued at over US$900 million (S$1.2 billion), it said on Tuesday. This is a step up from the valuation of over US$850 million it achieved back in November last year, after a merger with rival 701Search, then a unit of Telenor.

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