Major US indices closed in positive territory on Tuesday for the first time in three sessions after testimony from top government officials rekindled hopes for more stimulus from Congress. At the close, the broad-based Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 27,288.18, a drop of 0.5 per cent. The S&P 500 was at 3,315.57, a gain of 1.1 per cent, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.7 per cent to end at 10,963.63. Speaking to the House Financial Services Committee along with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the United States was seeing rapid economic gains but the government remained open to more fiscal stimulus even as talks between lawmakers were deadlocked.

Viking Offshore & Marine's plan to lease certain assets after selling them off "will help minimise disruptions and provide continuity to the group's operations", the board of the distressed offshore and marine firm said on Tuesday night.

IEV Holdings has set a shareholder vote for Oct 15 on its plan to sell off its main operating unit for S$200,000. Shareholders must pre-register for the electronic extraordinary general meeting and submit proxy voting forms by 10.30 am on Oct 13, said a circular on Tuesday. The sale, which is expected to yield net proceeds of S$95,000, is up for a vote as it constitutes an interested-person transaction under Catalist rules.

QAF expects its Australia-based pork production business to fare slightly worse in FY2020 than earlier guided, it said on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, it has not yet received offers for meat producer Rivalea and the rest of its Australian primary production business as has been reported in the press, the company said, in an update on a sale process launched in August.

Vibrant Group has responded to questions from the bourse operator for the third time in a month, with the Singapore Exchange (SGX) having queried the company on its latest full-year financial statements and annual report. The SGX, which raised questions last month about an impairment loss of nearly S$17.5 million for the year to April 30, requested more details on trade and other receivables.

Intel has received licences from US authorities to continue supplying certain products to Huawei Technologies, a company spokesperson said on Tuesday. With US-China ties at their worst in decades, Washington has been pushing governments around to world to squeeze out Huawei, arguing that the telecoms giant would hand data to the Chinese government for espionage.

US home sales surged to their highest level in nearly 14 years in August as the housing market continued to outperform the overall economy, though record-high home prices could squeeze first-time buyers out of the market. The report from the National Association of Realtors confirmed the housing market had recovered after slumping when the economy almost ground to a halt as businesses were shuttered in mid-March in an effort to slow the spread of Covid-19.

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