Asia stocks are set for a firmer open after gains in U.S. equities as traders assessed Biden’s infrastructure plan. Futures climbed in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. Ten-year Treasury yields resumed their rise, leading the Bloomberg Barclays index tracking U.S. government bonds to its worst quarter since 1980. Oil fell as talks ahead of a meeting of OPEC and its allies gave no signal of output plans. A slight pullback in the dollar left its best quarter in a year intact.

SG

Singapore's bank lending rose for the fourth straight month in February on continued growth in housing and construction loans, data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed on Wednesday. Loans through the domestic banking unit - which captures lending in all currencies, but reflects mainly Singapore-dollar lending - were up 0.5 per cent to S$686.73 billion in February, from S$683.59 billion in January.

Agri-business firm Olam International has secured a US$1.45 billion loan linked to its AtSource agricultural supply chain platform, the mainboard-listed firm said in a Singapore Exchange filing on Wednesday night.

Singapore Technologies Engineering's (ST Engineering) proposed buyout of New York-listed defence and transport technology firm Cubic Corporation has fallen through, with Cubic instead accepting a proposal from Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital Corporation.

US

Drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance said on Wednesday it has so far administered 8 million Covid-19 vaccines and raised its 2021 profit forecast, sending its shares up 2.6% in premarket trading. While the pandemic has affected prescription volumes in recent quarters, pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS Health are likely to benefit from distribution of Covid-19 vaccines and tests. Last quarter, Walgreens said it expected to profit from its vaccination program in the second half of 2021.

Pfizer Inc on Wednesday said it has produced 120 million doses of its COVID-19 shot for the United States that have been cleared for use by regulators, in keeping with guidance it gave U.S. lawmakers in February. Pfizer has delivered about 103 million of those doses to locations around the United States, with the remainder ready to be shipped as soon as the federal government gives the order, a company spokeswoman told Reuters.

Micron Technology Inc and Western Digital Corp are individually exploring a potential deal for Kioxia Holdings Corp that could value the Japanese semiconductor firm at around $30 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday singled out Amazon.com Inc for not paying federal taxes during his address in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as he spoke about raising the burden of taxes on multinational companies and hiking the corporate tax rate. Biden's infrastructure plan unveiled earlier in the day increases the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% and changes the tax code to close loopholes that allow companies to move profits overseas, according to a 25-page briefing paper released by the White House.

Exxon Mobil Corp. expects first-quarter earnings to be reduced by as much as $800 million due to the deep freeze that plunged Texas into darkness last month. Even so, the oil giant probably returned to profit after four straight losses. Rebounding oil and natural gas prices increased earnings by as much as $2.7 billion while improved refining and chemical margins added up to $1.1 billion, the Irving, Texas-based company said Wednesday in a filing.

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