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Singapore Shares Mute as Regional Uncertainty Weighs Down Sentiment

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Singapore shares remained little changed on Tuesday, with investor sentiment remaining cautious over uncertainty in the Middle East and lofty AI valuations.

The Straits Times Index (STI), a key benchmark for the Singapore Exchange, ranged between 5,603.01 and 5,633.84 throughout the day. It ended the session at 5,612.25, down 0.03 points or 0% compared to Monday's close.

On the corporate front, shares of Koh Brothers Eco Engineering (SGX:5HV) were down nearly 10% at the close with the engineering solutions provider flagging a net loss for the first half of the year.

APAC Realty's (SGX:CLN) shares closed nearly 7% higher as its attributable profit to owners fell 17% during the first half of the year to SG$9.4 million from SG$11.3 million a year earlier.

Meanwhile, shares of First Sponsor Group (SGX:ADN) were up nearly 5% at the close as it proposed a renounceable, non-underwritten rights issue of up to SG$332.6 million in 4.85% perpetual convertible capital securities.

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Asia Markets

Update: US Equity Indexes Jump as Communication Services Rally While Crude Oil Slides With Treasury Yields

(Updates with index/price moves and company/geopolitical news from the first paragraph.)US equity indexes rose amid strong gains in communications services and a slide in government bond yields, coupled with a drop in crude oil futures, supporting President Donald Trump's version of the state of Iran peace negotiations.The Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.1% to 25,913.90, with the S&P 500 up 1.5% to 7,600.50 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher by 1.3% to 53,178.41 on Monday.Communication services surged 4.3%, topping sectors, followed by consumer discretionary and technology. Energy, consumer staples, and health care were the sole decliners.Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) Google signed a 15-year power purchase agreement for the total energy output from RWE's 155-megawatt Crooked Creek solar project in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, RWE said Monday. Shares of Alphabet jumped 4.9%, the top gainer on the Dow.Amazon.com's (AMZN) web services unit and Superblocks unveiled a multi-year collaboration to bring the latter's generative AI platform to customers' AWS environments, including Amazon Bedrock. Shares of Amazon advanced 4.6%, one of the biggest outperformers on the Dow, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq.Alibaba (BABA) launched Qwen3.8-Max, its latest large language model, and plans to release the model's open weights next week alongside Qwen3.8-27B.President Donald Trump said his latest offer of talks is a "last chance" for Iran after he called off what he said was a major attack on the Islamic Republic, Bloomberg reported. "I want to give them every last chance before decapitation," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, according to Bloomberg. "You'll find out today or tomorrow. I mean, they're going to go quickly, one way or the other. It's not very complex."Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said no negotiations with the US were underway and no meetings were scheduled, Reuters reported.Oman and Iran have been negotiating over a new maritime route through the Strait of Hormuz, which borders both their territorial waters, Al Jazeera, a Middle Eastern broadcaster, reported. Sunday night, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the Iranian cabinet in a report that negotiations between Tehran and Muscat were "on the way to being finalized".The front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil slumped 5.3% to $80.15 a barrel, and global benchmark North Sea Brent dropped 4.8% to $83.70 a barrel.Most US Treasury yields declined, with the 10-year trading down 6.7 basis points to 4.68%, retreating from the 52-week high touched late last week. The two-year yield dropped 5.2 basis points to 4.24%.In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management's US manufacturing index rose to 55.6 in July from 53.3 in June, compared with expectations for 53.9 in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. This is the highest reading since May 2022, ISM said."The increase in New Orders and Production, along with an increase in Order Backlogs and Employment suggests that manufacturing businesses are becoming more comfortable with the idea of expanding capacity," Thomas Simons, Jefferies Chief Economist, said in a note. "Comments from some respondents suggest that the AI infrastructure build out has accelerated to a new phase."

Dow JonesNasdaq CompositeS&P 500$AMZN$BABA$GOOG$GOOGL
Asia Markets

Update: US Equity Indexes Rise Amid Rally in Communication Services; Crude Oil Slides With Treasury Yields

US equity indexes rose after midday Monday amid strong gains in communications services, while a slide in government bond yields accompanied a drop in crude oil futures.The Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.2% to 25,923.9, with the S&P 500 up 1.4% to 7,596.8 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average higher by 1.1% to 53,071.2.Communication services surged 4.5%, topping sector charts, followed by a rise in consumer discretionary and technology. Energy, healthcare and consumer staples led decliners."Iranian Leadership is unbelievably duplicitous!" President Donald Trump said in a social media post Monday, reverting to lashing out at Iran after canceling a planned attack against the Islamic Republic last Saturday because the "perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.""Nothing gets through to Iran unless we want it to, and nothing will get through unless a Deal, or Total Surrender, is accomplished," the US president said, referring to the US blockade of Iranian ports. "Whether Iran wants to admit it or not, we are, in fact, talking of a solution to a problem that they have caused, for decades."Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said no negotiations with the US were underway and no meetings were scheduled, Reuters reported.Oman and Iran have been negotiating over a new maritime route through the Strait of Hormuz, which borders both their territorial waters, Al Jazeera, a Middle Eastern broadcaster, reported. Sunday night, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the Iranian cabinet in a report that negotiations between Tehran and Muscat were "on the way to being finalized".The front-month US West Texas Intermediate crude oil slumped 5.4% to $80.08 a barrel, and global benchmark North Sea Brent dropped 4.9% to $83.66 a barrel.Most US Treasury yields declined, with the 10-year trading down 5.5 basis points to 4.69%, retreating from the 52-week high touched late last week. The two-year yield dropped 3.1 basis points to 4.26%.In precious metal markets, gold futures slipped 0.4% to $4,090.5, while silver futures were unchanged at $57.77.In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management's US manufacturing index rose to 55.6 in July from 53.3 in June, compared with expectations for 53.9 in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. This is the highest reading since May 2022, ISM said.The S&P Global US manufacturing index for July was revised upward to 53.9 from the flash reading of 53.8, compared with expectations for no revision in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.In company news, Alibaba (BABA) launched Qwen3.8-Max, its latest large language model, and plans to release the model's open weights next week alongside Qwen3.8-27B.Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) is in talks with AstraZeneca (AZN) about a potential combination that would create a pharmaceutical company valued at nearly $400 billion, the Financial Times reported.Marriott International (MAR) reported Q2 revenue below estimates amid headwinds from the Middle East conflict, and offered a downbeat Q3 earnings outlook. Shares slumped 6.3%, among the worst performers on the Nasdaq and the S&P 500.

Dow JonesNasdaq CompositeS&P 500$AZN$BABA$BMY$MAR
Asia Markets

Exchange-Traded Funds Higher as US Equities Advance After Midday

Broad Market IndicatorsBroad-market exchange-traded funds IWM and IVV rose. Actively traded Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) added 1.5%.US equity indexes rose amid strong gains in communications services, while a slide in government bond yields accompanied a drop in crude oil futures.EnergyIShares US Energy ETF (IYE) fell 0.8% and the State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) was down 1%.TechnologyThe State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) gained 1.2%; iShares US Technology ETF (IYW) rose 2.3%, and iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF (IGM) added 1.9%.The State Street SPDR S&P Semiconductor (XSD) was up 0.8%, and iShares Semiconductor (SOXX) shed 0.5%.FinancialThe State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) rose 0.2%. Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) advanced 0.5%, and its bearish counterpart, Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ), declined 0.5%.CommoditiesCrude oil declined 6%, and the United States Oil Fund (USO) fell 5.6%. Natural gas rose 0.4%, and the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) added 0.1%.Gold on Comex shed 0.3%, and the State Street SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) fell 0.4%. Silver rose fractionally, and iShares Silver Trust (SLV) dropped 0.6%.ConsumerThe State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) was down 0.3%. The Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (VDC) slipped 0.3%, and iShares Dow Jones US Consumer Goods (IYK) fell 0.5%.The State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY) was up 1.6%. VanEck Retail ETF (RTH) added 1.3%, and the State Street SPDR S&P Retail (XRT) gained 1.4%.HealthcareThe State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV) declined 0.5%, iShares US Healthcare (IYH) fell 0.5%, and Vanguard Health Care ETF (VHT) shed 0.4%. IShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) was down 0.6%.IndustrialThe State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR (XLI) rose 1%. Vanguard Industrials Index Fund (VIS) and iShares US Industrials (IYJ) were also higher.CryptocurrencyIn midday activity, bitcoin (BTC-USD) added 0.8%. Among cryptocurrency ETFs, ProShares Bitcoin ETF (BITO) rose 1.3%, ProShares Ether ETF (EETH) was down 0.3%, and ProShares Bitcoin & Ether Market Cap Weight ETF (BETH) was 0.1% higher.

Dow Jones^EEM^EXI^FAS^FAZ^GLD^IBB^IGM^IGV^IPK^IVV^IWMNasdaq Composite^IYE^IYH^IYJ^IYK^IYW^PMR^QQQ^RTH^SOXXS&P 500^SPY^UNG^USO^VDC^VHT^VIS^XLE^XLF^XLI^XLK^XLP^XLV^XRT^XSD$BETH$BITO$EETH