Stocks looked set for a cautious start to the week as traders monitored developments on progress toward a vaccine. The pound ticked up. S&P 500 futures opened with little fanfare and Australian shares edged higher in early Monday trading as global equities remain within a whisker of the record high set earlier this month. Vaccinations against Covid-19 in the U.S. will “hopefully” start in less than three weeks, according to the head of the federal government’s program to accelerate a vaccine. Japan is shut for a holiday and Treasuries won’t trade until the London open.

INVESTORS will have easier access to Hong Kong-listed technology stocks next month, as OCBC works towards the listing of a tech-focused exchange-traded fund on the Singapore Exchange. The Lion-OCBC Securities Hang Seng TECH ETF will track the Hang Seng TECH Index, which is made up of the top 30 technology companies listed in Hong Kong by market capitalisation.

China will show "zero tolerance" for misconduct following a recent string of bond defaults, a meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Committee chaired by Vice-Premier Liu He said. Fraudulent issuance, disclosure of false information, malicious transfer of assets and misappropriation of issuance funds will be strictly investigated, said the meeting, according to an account posted on a government website.

General Electric and a Vietnamese company signed a memorandum of understanding to develop an LNG (liquified natural gas) power plant near Ho Chi Minh City. The signing between GE and EVN Genco3 took place during an event with President Donald Trump's National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien in Hanoi on Saturday. Mr O'Brien, in Vietnam for a three-day visit which includes meetings with government officials and a speech to international relations students, said the companies will develop a plant that will provide 3,600 megawatts of power.

On Nov 18, Medtecs International Corporation executive director and CEO William Yang Weiyuan acquired one million shares of the listed company for a consideration of S$921,998 at an average price of 92.20 cents per share. According to the filing, Mr Yang was not previously holding Medtecs shares. The share price of Medtecs has soared from 3.7 cents at the end 2019 to 92.00 cents as of Nov 19.

CATALIST-LISTED Jiutian Chemical Group recently became the world's second-largest dimethylformamide (DMF) producer, after a competitor exited the business. The economics of its chemicals production business have also improved, and the company expects this situation may continue for some time.

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