Asian stocks were steady early Tuesday as investors await more clues on the outlook for inflation and central bank stimulus amid the recovery from the pandemic. The dollar held a decline. Stocks edged up in Japan and Australia but fell in South Korea. U.S. shares closed little changed in sight of a record, while the Nasdaq 100 was bolstered by a Biogen Inc. rally on approval of its Alzheimer’s drug. U.S. futures rose and Nasdaq 100 contracts outperformed, weathering an international plan to ensure big firms such as Amazon.com Inc. pay a minimum level of tax. Ten-year U.S. Treasury yields were stable. Traders are awaiting the U.S. inflation report to gauge price pressures amid expectations the Federal Reserve in the weeks ahead will begin talking about tapering asset purchases.

SG

Jurong Shipyard, a wholly-owned unit of Sembcorp Marine, has agreed to revise the delivery dates of two ultra-deepwater drill ships it has contracted to build for Transocean Offshore Deepwater Holdings, due to work disruptions amid Covid-19. The delivery dates of the first vessel, Deepwater Atlas, has been rescheduled to December 2021. The delivery date for the second vessel, Deepwater Titan, has been pushed to May 2022.

ComfortDelgro on Monday announced that it will bring its taxi, private bus, car rental and leasing, as well as lifestyle businesses, under a new umbrella division called the Private Mobility Group (PMG). This comes amid an ongoing strategic review by the group. "The move aims to synergise and leverage on ComfortDelGro's core strengths in land transport solutions, whilst making it easier for customers to gain access to the various services in the group," said the group in a bourse filing.

Lendlease Global Commercial Reit has proposed to raise its stake in Jem mall to up to 31.8 per cent for a purchase consideration of between S$204.1 million and S$337.3 million, the manager said on Monday. The Reit's trustee has entered into sale-and-purchase agreements with various vendors to acquire stakes in two private funds, Lendlease Jem Partners Fund Limited (LLJP) and Lendlease Asian Retail Investment Fund 3 Limited (ARIF3). They own 25 per cent and 75 per cent of Jem, respectively.

DBS on Monday received the official green light for its majority-owned securities joint venture (JV) in China, with the attainment of its securities business licence from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). With business operations officially commencing on Monday, DBS Securities (China) will operate brokerage, securities investment consulting, securities underwriting and sponsorships, as well as proprietary trading.

The sale of four Chapter 11 properties of Eagle Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust (EH-Reit) were completed on June 3, EH-Reit trustee DBS Trustee said in a bourse filing on Monday. The four properties sold are Sheraton Denver Tech Center, Four Points by Sheraton San Jose Airport, Embassy Suites by Hilton Anaheim North and Double Tree by Hilton Salt Lake City, with a total consideration of US$117.2 million.

Aspen (Group) Holdings on Monday provided an update on its business operations, following the imposition of Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) in Singapore and a full movement control order (MCO) in Malaysia, as its property development, healthcare and food and beverage (F&B) sectors have been affected. Singapore's restrictions began on May 16 and are set to conclude on June 13, while Malaysia's full MCO is in effect from June 1 to June 14. Aspen said that it was unable to quantify the extent of the financial impact of these restrictions on the earnings per share and net asset value per share of the group for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2021.

US

To further enhance privacy, Apple is giving users of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 a new menu showing them in detail what data third-party apps are collecting. The company is making Siri more private, too, keeping the processing of such key tasks as launching apps, setting alarms and changing settings on the device itself rather than sending it to the less-secure web. That also will speed up Siri response times, a frequent complaint.

Biogen Inc. shares surged after its controversial Alzheimer’s disease therapy was approved by U.S. regulators, a landmark decision that stands to dramatically change treatment for the debilitating brain condition. The stock gained as much as 64% shortly after the news of the clearance, triggering a brief volatility halt. It ended up 38% at $395.85, the biggest single-day gain since drug officials first said that the treatment appeared effective in November.

Global policy makers are crafting their international tax plan to make sure Amazon.com Inc. is included, even though the U.S. company’s profit margin is below the 10% proposed threshold that would give other countries rights to collect revenue. Group of Seven finance ministers on Saturday voiced support for proposed rules reallocating a portion of profits above a 10% margin to be taxed in other countries, and Amazon has estimated a global operating margin of 7.1% this year. But two people familiar with the negotiations said Amazon will be included, with the particulars of how to design the policy to capture the company still being discussed.

The U.S. recovered almost all the Bitcoin ransom paid to the perpetrators of the cyber-attack on Colonial Pipeline Co. last month in a sign that law enforcement is capable of pursuing online criminals even when they operate outside the nation’s borders. U.S. officials said Monday that they captured about 63.7 Bitcoin traced to recipients of a 75-Bitcoin ransom paid by Colonial soon after the early May attack that resulted in a shutdown of the nation’s largest gas pipeline, resulting in fuel shortages across the east coast just ahead of the Memorial Day weekend.

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