Singapore Tonight - Fri 1 Aug 2025
From business to politics, health to technology, we bring you up-to-date with the latest news on Singapore and analyze how these events may affect you tomorrow.
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CNA
23 minutes ago
- CNA
Japanese investors ditch foreign stocks on US economic concerns, tariff tensions
Japanese investors significantly sold foreign stocks in the week to August 2 as major markets retreated on caution over U.S. economic outlook and a new set of trade tariffs. According to data from Japan's Ministry of Finance released on Thursday, domestic investors withdrew a net 752.1 billion yen ($5.10 billion) out of foreign stocks last week, reversing two successive weeks of net purchases. The MSCI World Index lost a sharp 2.54 per cent last week, the most in three months, pressured by a disappointing U.S. jobs report for July, and President Donald Trump's new round of punishing tariffs on dozens of countries. Despite the recent withdrawals, overseas stock markets have still received a massive 3.37 trillion yen worth of Japanese investments so far this year compared with a net 915.8 billion yen sales a year ago. They also sold foreign long-term bonds of 526.3 billion yen for the second successive week on the run. Meanwhile, Japanese stock markets saw approximately 193 billion yen in weekly net investments from overseas, the smallest amount in six weeks. In local bond markets, foreign outflows from long-term bonds cooled to a three-week low of 87.5 billion yen. Short-term bills saw 1.2 trillion yen of net foreign inflows after a net 1.95 trillion yen weekly outflow in the previous week. ($1 = 147.5800 yen)
CNA
23 minutes ago
- CNA
What's Coming Up - Insight On Why Seoul No Longer Attracts The Rich
This year, Seoul has fallen the furthest in the list of the world's top 50 wealthiest cities, dropping five spots to rank 24th. The South Korean capital lost over 12000 millionaires. Insight finds out why.
CNA
40 minutes ago
- CNA
Philippines posts strongest growth in a year in second quarter, driven by farm output
MANILA :The Philippine economy grew at its fastest annual pace in a year in the second quarter, buoyed by a sharp rebound in agriculture and resilient domestic consumption, offering the central bank greater flexibility in its monetary policy stance. Gross domestic product expanded by 5.5 per cent year-on-year in the April-June period. That surpassed the 5.4 per cent median forecast in a Reuters poll, which is also the rate at which the economy grew in the first quarter. "With this performance, we maintain our place among the fastest-growing economies in emerging Asia," Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said during a press briefing. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, the economy grew by 1.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter, outpacing the 1.3 per cent forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. A key contributor to the second-quarter performance was the agriculture sector, which expanded 7 per cent, faster than the previous quarter's 2.2 per cent growth, according to the statistics agency. Slowing inflation also helped support household consumption, which rose 5.5 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter, the fastest pace since the first quarter of 2023. With first-half growth already at 5.4 per cent, reaching the lower end of the government's full-year growth target of 5.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent is "very feasible," Balisacan said, citing slowing inflation and the effects of previous interest rate adjustments. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Eli Remolona told Reuters last week the central bank was on track to slash its key interest rate, currently at a two-and-a-half-year low of 5.25 per cent, two more times this year, but the timing will depend on the outlook for growth and inflation. Improved trade conditions further support the outlook, Balisacan said, noting that the recent reduction in U.S. tariffs on Philippine goods, from a threatened 20 per cent to 19 per cent, removed a layer of external uncertainty. He also allayed concerns over a U.S. plan to impose 100 per cent tariff on semiconductor chips imported from countries not producing in America, which an industry leader had described as "devastating" for the country earlier in the day. "I don't expect that to be adverse because ... the value added of (the Philippines') semiconductors and electronics is not that high," Balisacan said.
