News Line: Is Singapore venerable to a "wall-street like crisis?" & Asian Stocks extend gains in Monday Trading

1) Finance minister Tharman says Singapore's financial institutions stable

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s financial institutions are well capitalised and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), says Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

He was speaking to reporters on Sunday at a community event where he joined Muslims to break fast.

Mr Tharman said: "We are glad that overall, if you look at what is happening in Singapore compared to other financial centres, confidence in the market has been retained."

But Mr Tharman said a technical recession — defined by two consecutive quarters of economic contraction — is possible in Singapore.

Nonetheless, he cautioned that it is important for Singapore not to have any knee—jerk reactions, and to continue to monitor the global financial situation closely before announcing any plans.

Singapore’s non—oil domestic exports in August fell 13.8 per cent from the same month in 2007, the largest drop in the last year.

And with the current financial crisis, economists expect this figure to fall even further as global demand slows...

Click here to access the full article from Yahoo Finance - Singapore (News Asia)

2) Asia's stocks extend gains on proposed US bailout

HONG KONG (AP) -- Asian markets rose Monday after the U.S. government proposed a US$700 billion plan to solve the world financial crisis by rescuing banks from billions of dollars in risky mortgage debt.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.4 percent to close at 12,090.59 points , while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 1.2 percent.

In China, the Shanghai Composite Index soared 7.8 percent on hopes of a turnaround after government steps to stabilize the country's beaten down shares.

Markets in Australia and Taiwan advanced strongly after regulators in both countries issued curbs on short selling, following similar moves in the U.S, Britain and other countries. The practice, which bets on a stock's decline, has been partly blamed for driving down share prices.

Global markets had rallied Friday on news Washington was likely to announce a bailout plan, calming investors worried that losses from bad bets on mortgages could bring about the collapse of more companies, straining an already weakened financial system and global economy...

Click here to access the full article from Yahoo Finance - Singapore (AP)

Live from Singapore!

I would like to inform all readers of this site/blog that I'm currently writing from the beautiful city-state of Singapore, the first stop on a trip through Asia I recently embarked upon.


This morning (Thursday, Sept 18th) I woke up to some interesting headlines on my blackberry, and by interesting I mean frightening... It isn't everyday US stock markets plunge by over 4.5%. I'll share the headlines of two well respected and widely read newspapers.

I'll share the headlines of two well respected and widely read newspapers here in Singapore—the Straights Times and the Business Times.

The Straights Times -- SAVING PRIVATE AMERICA. COST SO FAR? --- US $ 905 billion

1. AIG --- $85 billion
2. Financing Lehman Brothers via JP Morgan -- $87 billion
3. Fannie and Freddie Mac --- $ 200 billion
4. Financing JP Morgans buyout of Bear Sterns -- $29 billion
5. Outstanding loans to banks --- $200 billion
6. Federal Housing Administration --- $300 billion
7. Grants to local communities --- $4 billion

The Business Times --- "FED RESCUES AIG TO SAVE THE WORLD"

Pretty scary if you ask me... On the bright side, when you walk the streets of Singapore things don't appear that bad (at least on the surface).

I am by no means a expert on this little city-state so please by all means, I encourage readers to let me know if my observations of this city and my subsequent analysis are a bit skewed by my ignorance.

Singapore intrigues me to no end. It is no mystery why this city has grown into the trading center it has. Strategically situated at the Southern tip of Malaysia at the Straights of Malacca it serves as a middle point of exchange for incredible volume of goods bound for all part of the world.

I have never in my life seen so many unloading cranes for cargo shipments. i am not sure on the exact figures and it may simply be that Singapore's small size makes its shipping capacity appear larger than it actually is, but New York, New Jersey, New Orleans, Long Beach and Baltimore (a few of the biggest ports in the US) do not even remotely compare.

The city-state appears to have run out of land and in efforts to continue growing and producing a prosperous life for its people, the government has embarked on a major construction project to build up the near by island of Sentosa. Check out one of the pics I found running a Google image search on the island.

Sentosa island will soon emerge as a new and vibrant part of Singapore, increasing Singapore's total living space, economy and offering new opportunities for the residents of this city-state.

Amazing no?...

Singapore to open a new bourse reports Reuters

SINGAPORE, July 9 (Reuters) - India's Financial Technologies Group, operator of India's top commodities bourse, plans to launch a similar exchange in Singapore early next year, it said on Wednesday.

The Singapore Mercantile Exchange will provide a platform for futures and options trading on precious metals, base metals, energy, agricultural commodities, currency pairs, carbon credits and commodity indices, the group said in a statement. .................

Click here to access the full story from Reuters.com