News

The January retail sales numbers was one of the surprises Singapore has delivered over the past few months.

The URA monthly sales volume fell to 1,101 units last month.

However, January still showed strong retail sales in nominal terms with an increase of 2.9 per cent compared to January 2010.

The total employment growth of 115,900 far exceeded the 37,600 or 1.3% in 2009.

The January retails sales is due later today, said OCBC.

Rental values for prime first-storey retail space islandwide were unchanged as the industry continues to grapple with the demand-supply dynamics that have yet to settle.

Employers should tap on the pool of mature workers to moderate the need for foreign manpower and remain competitive.

The recently announced changes to foreign workers levy for the lower skilled worker will add up to business costs.

Consumers now have the option to block third-party providers that send chargeable Premium Rate Services (PRS).

The BOJ has rescheduled its meeting – from tomorrow to 1pm (0400 GMT) – to come up with new policies and plans of action as Japanese financial markets re-open today.

The figure is down from a robust expansion of 20.8% in the previous month.

This is based on the order of tens of billions of US dollars rather than hundreds of billions.

Compared to the Kobe quake on 17 January, 1995, Macquarie believes the impact should be lower.

The M&A volume totaled US$4.5 billion in Singapore accounted for 40% of total M&A volume in South East Asia.

Indonesia lead the region with US$2.2 billion - the highest YTD volume on record.

The Conveyancing Bill aims to address the risk of rogue lawyers defalcating clients' conveyancing money.