Asian stocks looked primed for gains after fresh record highs from their U.S. peers as a renewal of aid talks added to optimism over progress on coronavirus vaccines. The dollar extended its slide to a more than two-year low and Treasuries slumped. Futures pointed to gains in Hong Kong and Japan and Australian shares rose. S&P 500 contracts were little changed after the benchmark closed over 1% higher. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered a new proposal for a stimulus package and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he is circulating among Republicans his own revised plan, which has the backing of President Donald Trump. President-elect Joe Biden urged Congress to pass a relief package. Benchmark Treasury yields climbed back above 0.9%. Oil extended losses as tensions between OPEC members heightened uncertainty over the group delaying its planned output increase. Gold held an advance, while Bitcoin retreated after almost reaching $20,000 for the first time.

The launch of the much-anticipated air travel bubble (ATB) between Singapore and Hong Kong has been deferred yet again to a date to be fixed, amid rising coronavirus infections in the territory. "Singapore and Hong Kong have further reviewed the Covid-19 situation in Hong Kong, and given that local unlinked cases are still high, both parties have decided to defer the commencement of the Singapore-Hong Kong Air Travel Bubble to beyond December 2020. The exact start date of the ATB arrangement will be reviewed in late-December," CAAS said in its statement.

The India unit of Quantium Solutions (QS), the e-commerce logistics business of Singapore Post (SingPost), has been placed under voluntary liquidation, the mainboard-listed firm announced in a Tuesday bourse filing. The Business Times understands that the 66 per cent indirect subsidiary of SingPost, Quantium Mail Logistics Solutions (India), had been loss-making. Following a 2019 strategic review of QS' operations, a decision was made to shut down the India unit and pivot to other core Asia-Pacific markets.

Mapletree Logistics Trust will no longer proceed with a planned A$21.25 million purchase of a logistics warehouse in Brisbane, its manager announced in a bourse filing on Tuesday night. The deal is not proceeding because certain factors in the conditional agreement, previously announced in June, were not fulfilled by the long-stop date of Nov 30.

The board of mm2 Asia is evaluating a spin-off of its cinema business and a listing on the Catalist board, the mainboard-listed firm announced in a Tuesday bourse filing after trading hours. mm2's cinema business is currently conducted through its wholly-owned unit, mm Connect, and its subsidiaries. A spin-off would enable the cinema business to be "financially independent" and raise the funds required for new growth opportunities without relying on mm2, the firm said.

Malaysia said on Tuesday it had opened an investigation and would take legal action against world's largest glove manufacturer, Top Glove, after finding that the firm did not comply with standards for worker accommodations. The Ministry of Human Resources' Labour Department said in a briefing that enforcement operations were carried out last week at six of Top Glove's companies in five states, investigating conditions at worker accommodations and hostels.

CapitaLand has divested three malls in Japan and an office building in South Korea for a total of S$448.7 million, as part of its ongoing portfolio reconstitution strategy, it said Tuesday morning in an exchange filing. It also announced that it has made its first foray into Japan's logistics sector, entering into a joint venture with Mitsui & Co Real Estate, with CapitaLand as the majority partner, to develop and operate a logistics project in Greater Tokyo.

Keppel Corp's property arm, Keppel Land, is divesting its remaining 30 per cent interest in Dong Nai Waterfront City (DNWC) for about 1.95 trillion dong (S$115.9 million) in cash. The transaction follows the divestment of Keppel Land's 70 per cent stake in DNWC to Nam Long Investment Corporation (NLG), which was announced in 2019.

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