Asian stocks looked primed for a lackluster start to trading Wednesday after their U.S. peers closed little changed and Treasury yields fluctuated around a 10-month high. The dollar retreated. Futures pointed to little movement in Japan, Hong Kong and Australia after the S&P 500 fluctuated between gains and losses before closing flat.

Energy, materials and the consumer discretionary sectors were the best performers as investors mulled the prospects of an economic recovery. Crude oil approached a 11-month high as the dollar fell back after a three-day rally. Corn futures surged on a tighter-than-expected supply outlook. Ten-year Treasury yields pared an earlier rise after a government auction was met with solid demand.

Mainboard-listed Tee International returned to the black in the second quarter, on the absence of losses from discontinued business operations. In its unaudited financial statements released on Tuesday, the group reported a net profit of S$547,000 for the three months to Nov 30, 2020, reversing the loss of S$35.9 million in the year before. This was even as revenue was more than halved to S$46.4 million, down from S$97.5 million previously, with the completion of a major project in the year-ago period. The bottom line was shored up by the divestment in early 2020 of a 63.28 per cent stake in Tee Land, which had been behind an earlier loss of S$36.6 million.

Catalist-listed tourism operator Memories Group faces material uncertainty over whether it can continue as a going concern amid the Covid-19 pandemic. But its board believes that a going-concern assumption remains appropriate, it said on Tuesday, citing fund-raising and a shift in business focus. Independent auditor Nexia TS Public Accounting Corp flagged uncertainty in its report on the financial statements for the 18 months to Sept 30, 2020. The auditor noted that Myanmar, where Memories operates, has curbed international arrivals and imposed movement controls within the country.

Mainboard-listed Sunpower Group is buying four sets of boilers for 100 million yuan (S$20.5 million) from a Chinese textile company, the board said on Tuesday. Under a steam supply right contract, its wholly-owned subsidiary will then become the exclusive steam supplier to vendor Hebei Sanli Group for 25 years, unless the subsidiary cannot provide the volume or quality needed. The deal will consolidate wholly-owned subsidiary Hebei Changrun Environmental Technology Co's market position as the only professional coal-fired centralised provider of industrial steam in Gaoyang, Sunpower said.

Developers sold 1,217 new homes in December, up almost 60 per cent over the November figure. This brought the unit tally to 10,008 for 2020, a year when Singapore recorded its worst recession as a global pandemic resulted in lockdowns in many countries. The December transactions could change when URA releases its monthly sales data this Friday, and probably again when the Q4 Real Estate Statistics is published on Jan 22 due to adjustments for aborted sales. The final figure could be lower when aborted units are factored in, said Ms Sun. "Therefore, the total new homes (for 2020) could be on par with the 9,912 units sold in 2019 and above the 8,795 units sold in 2018," she said.

Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) on Tuesday announced enhancements to rules on auditors and valuers in their dealings with listed companies, following a public consultation in 2020. Under the new rules, all primary-listed issuers must appoint an auditor registered with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) to conduct their statutory audits. Following this new requirement, audits performed for all primary-listed issuers will effectively be subject to ACRA's regulatory oversight. Secondary-listed issuers from certain developed markets may continue to use auditors from their own jurisdictions. For all other secondary-listed issuers, SGX will assess on a case-by-case basis if an appointment of a joint auditor that is registered with ACRA is required.

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