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Weekly Outlook

Market Commentary – September 2024

Market Commentary – September 2024

Equity Market Update:

Source: Bloomberg

In September, global equity markets continued their positive trajectory. The S&P 500 gained 2.1% month-to-date (MTD), driven by strong corporate earnings and expectations of rate cuts. Growth trumps value as the NASDAQ Composite (+2.8% MTD) posted stronger performance over the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+2.0% MTD).

Developed markets performed solidly, with the MSCI World Index rising 1.9% MTD, although emerging markets were outpacing with a gain of 6.7% MTD. Small-caps (+1.9% MTD) also rose similarly to large-caps, reflecting equity investors’ caution amidst mixed economic signals​.

Across the Asia-Pacific region, ASEAN markets surged (+6.4% MTD), led by strong performances from Singapore (+6.0% MTD) and Australia (+6.0% MTD). China rebounded significantly (+23.8% MTD), reflecting optimism over renewed top-down policy support. In contrast, South Korea (-1.3% MTD) and Japan (+0.8% MTD) lagged behind, impacted by weaker economic data​.

Source: Bloomberg

The S&P 500 sectors generally exhibited positive performance, with the exceptions of Energy (-2.7% MTD, +8.4% YTD), Healthcare (-1.7% MTD, +14.4% YTD), and Financials (-0.5% MTD, +21.9% YTD). Energy stocks was particularly impacted by subdued global demand and declining oil prices which have been falling consistently since April.

In contrast, Consumer Discretionary (+7.1% MTD, +13.9% YTD) led all sectors for the month, supported by resilient consumer spending and strong earnings from key industry players. Communication Services (+4.6% MTD, +28.8% YTD) and Utilities (+6.6% MTD, +30.6% YTD) also performed relatively the best, reflecting the continued investor interest in a balanced growth and defensive plays.

Source: Bloomberg

REIT markets globally have maintained their momentum in September, supported by declining interest rate expectations and increasing demand from income-focused investors seeking yield. Singapore REITs advanced by 5.5% MTD, while Australian REITs led with a robust 9.4% MTD rise. Germany (+12.0% MTD) and Thailand (+11.9% MTD) were the top performers globally. Japan (+0.5% MTD) and U.S. (+2.7% MTD) REITs relatively underperformed in comparison.

Central banks worldwide are preparing to initiate or continue interest rate cuts, marking the end of an era of historically high borrowing costs. In light of ongoing economic uncertainties, we maintain a preference for operationally resilient and recession-proof subsectors such as Healthcare, Industrial, and Data Centers. These sectors are better positioned to weather near-term challenges, including high borrowing costs and rising cap rates, which may impact distributions as loan maturities approach.

Despite these headwinds, our medium-to-long-term outlook for the sector remains positive. The high quality of underlying assets provides a strong foundation for sustained performance. Additionally, SREITs remain particularly attractive, supported by a globally competitive yield spread of 2.9%, second only to Thailand and Japan. With high-quality assets and fair valuations, currently trading at a Price-to-Book ratio of 0.96, SREITs present a compelling investment opportunity for those seeking both value appreciation and stable income in the current market environment.

 

Equity Market Sentiment and Outlook:

Source: Bloomberg

The stock market moved towards a more risk-off sentiment, with the VIX rising by 37 basis points month-over-month, approaching its three-month average. The yield curve has finally reversed its prolonged inversion, which had persisted since 2022, indicating growing optimism in response to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy easing. This is further highlighted by the steeper decline in the 2-year Treasury yield compared to the 10-year. Moreover, the narrowing of the credit spread points to an increased risk appetite in the corporate bond market.

Source: Bloomberg

The current economic landscape presents both positive and concerning signals. On the positive side, the ISM Manufacturing PMI inched up to 47.2 in August, still in contraction territory (below 50) but showing signs of stabilization in industrial activity. Additionally, inflationary pressures have broadly eased, with the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) falling to 2.5% YoY, suggesting that price stability could be within reach.

However, core inflation remains stubborn at 3.2% year-over-year, raising concerns about underlying inflationary pressures that are not entirely behind us and may prompt the Federal Reserve to adopt a more cautious approach. Furthermore, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, a key measure for the Fed, rose slightly by 3 basis points, alongside increases in both headline and core Producer Price Index (PPI), which often serve as leading indicators of future inflation.

On a brighter note, both U.S. and global composite PMIs showed slight expansions, demonstrating economic resilience despite the broader slowdown. Corporate earnings also remain strong, with 75% of S&P 500 companies surpassing earnings estimates in 2Q2024 – above the average of the last four quarters. However, sectors like industrials, materials, and real estate underperformed, likely due to their sensitivity to interest rate fluctuations and economic cycles. Given the current economic environment, the Fed’s cautious stance on rate cuts may shape market dynamics for the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, the Fed’s reaffirmation of its intention to gradually reduce benchmark interest rates is positive for equities, particularly in the long run.

In this context, investor attention may increasingly shift toward emerging market equities and small-cap stocks, which could offer opportunities for outperformance. However, given the prevailing market uncertainties, a diversified sector allocation remains prudent. Large-cap stocks, particularly in the technology sector, continue to stand out as a favorable option. These companies’ strong cash flows, substantial reserves, and limited dependence on external borrowing make them resilient to economic volatility and higher interest rates.

Large-cap tech stocks remain attractive investment opportunities, especially given their strong track record in low-interest-rate environments. Their blend of growth potential and defensive characteristics offers a balanced approach for investors facing uncertain macroeconomic conditions. Therefore, maintaining exposure to large-cap stocks, particularly in the tech sector, is a strategic choice, while also diversifying portfolios with allocations to small-cap and emerging market equities.

 

China Market Update:

The Chinese Bazooka

The People’s Bank of China took consolidation action on three fronts – problem of monetary contraction, housing meltdown and slump in equity markets.

Monetary Easing

  • The reserve requirement ratio (RRR) was cut by 50 basis points releasing RMB1 trillion (US$143 billion) in liquidity. More RRR cuts are possible, if needed.
  • The short-term repo rate was cut by 20 basis points, with a further reduction of 25-50 basis points possible before year-end.
  • An injection of core Tier-1 capital for state banks to provide more liquidity for lending.

Housing Market

  • Aligning existing mortgage rates with those on new mortgages, effectively reducing the average mortgage rate by 50 basis points. This will help 50 million households, with an average saving of $428 per household annually from lower mortgage costs.
  • A further reduction in the down payment ratio to 15% from 25%, regardless of how many homes are purchased.
  • The central bank will provide 100% financing for local governments to buy unsold homes. The financial support for property developers will be extended to 2026 to help property developers speed up home delivery.

Equity Market

  • The PBOC now allows non-banking financial institutions to use “swap facilities” to obtain liquidity by using their equity holdings as collateral.
  • A special loan facility will be established to help and support stock buybacks. The pool of money is small, starting at $42 billion, but more funding will be provided if the program works well.
  • A stabilization fund will be established to steady the stock market, whenever necessary.

Implications – What is different?

This is the first time that China has made consolidated action instead of piecemeal actions until now. These actions and announcements were poorly received by the markets. This time monetary stimulus package is more aggressive and comprehensive than all previous reflation efforts. Central bank governor Pan Gongsheng sounded more determined than ever to steady the economy. The central bank announced immediately follow up by a Politburo meeting in which President XI reaffirmed his commitment to use “active” fiscal and monetary policies to stabilize the housing market and the economy.

This time, Chinese market responded with big rally. The reason for the big bang policy actions were uncertain global environment with US changing governments and Fed cut rates which reduced fears of sharp fall of CNY.

Outlook

MSCI Chinese equity Forward earnings have stopped falling due to profit recovery and share buybacks. The forward PE is 8-9x. This shows that a lot of bad news has been discounted by the Chinese equity market. Chinese equities are offering a value buy opportunity even after the recent run up.

 

Fixed Income Update:

Source: Bloomberg

It was another September to remember for the bond markets with strong gains recorded across the board, further building on the strong YTD returns registered by all the indices being tracked. We also note that this is the fifth straight month going back to May where all the major bond indices above have registered back to back positive monthly gains.

Indices tracking bonds outside the US continued to outperform their US peers in September due to sustained weakness in the USD. The SGD overall index was up by 3.13% in September as the Singapore dollar appreciated 1.5% against the greenback over the same period contributing to the strong returns of this index in USD terms. The emerging market aggregate index also advanced 1.76%. Interestingly, US corporate bonds also performed well in September, likely bolstered by a resilient US economy while longer term inflation expectations remain well-anchored.

Going forward, we do expect the US dollar to find some strong support at these levels. FED Chair Jerome Powell in a speech on Sep 30 2024 pushed back against aggressive market pricing on more supersized interest rate cuts which could cause the US dollar to gain against other major currencies in October and result in market dominance to switch back to US based bond indices again.

Are we in a ‘golden era’ for fixed income?

2024 has been a rip-roaring year for equities thus far. The stock market had already been building up a head of steam in anticipation of interest rate cuts and following the 50bps rate cut from the FED in September, the S&P 500 closed at an all-time high of 5745.37 on Sep 26 2024. This has however prompted some such as Rick Rieder, CIO of fixed income at Blackrock to say that we could be in a golden age for bonds instead. With stocks trading close to record territory, he is of the opinion that fixed income is an attractive option for investors as real rates in the belly of the curve now exceed the S&P 500 equity risk premium which is the compensation investors get for buying stocks.

Source: Rick Rieder, Bloomberg – Data as of Sep 24 2024

We share this sentiment here in the Singapore markets. With the STI also having rallied by about 10.6% YTD on a price return basis, valuations could be a bit stretched here in the short term, which make bonds an attractive option.

Source: Bloomberg – Data as of Sep 23 2024

As seen in the graph above, the long end of the yield curve remains rather flat meaning investors are not being compensated adequately for taking on duration risk. At the same time, though the curve is inverted, going ultra-short could mean investors incur very high reinvestment risk when such front-end rates drop sharply in a relatively short period of time. This is where we find the belly of the SGS yield curve (1Y – 5Y maturities) to be the most attractive segment to mitigate both duration and reinvestment risks. We are hence of the opinion that in such an environment short duration bond funds could be a good addition to investors’ portfolios which will help them strike a good balance of achieving regular income while minimizing volatility from interest rate fluctuations.

China launches bazooka fiscal stimulus to revive ailing economy

In the face of faltering economic growth and rising deflationary pressures, the Chinese government has finally put aside their hesitation for bold economic stimulus packages and come out guns blazing with a fiscal and monetary “bazooka” that rivals that of the one fired in November 2008 during the global financial crisis. The scale of China’s massive stimulus effort has even prompted the likes of American hedge fund billionaire David Tepper to say that it’s a “buy everything” moment in China. The slew of measures includes cuts to mortgage rates and minimum down payments to support the property sector as well as cuts to the reserve requirement ratio and an issuance of RMB 1Tn in special sovereign bonds to stimulate consumption. A separate RMB 1Tn sovereign bond issuance is also being floated to help local governments with their mounting debt problems.

It may also be prudent to keep in mind other second order effects that could arise from China’s fiscal stimulus. A stimulus package of this size and scale coupled with a jumbo rate cut from the FED could put upward pressure on commodity prices and spark reinflation. This may result in the market having to pare back the aggressiveness of rate cut bets which could cause bond yields especially on the long end to surge again.

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This material is provided by Phillip Capital Management (S) Ltd (“PCM”) for general information only and does not constitute a recommendation, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of any offer to invest in any of the exchange-traded fund (“ETF”) or the unit trust (“Products”) mentioned herein. It does not have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation and any of your particular needs. You should read the Prospectus and the accompanying Product Highlights Sheet (“PHS”) for key features, key risks and other important information of the Products and obtain advice from a financial adviser (“FA“) before making a commitment to invest in the Products. In the event that you choose not to obtain advice from a FA, you should assess whether the Products are suitable for you before proceeding to invest. A copy of the Prospectus and PHS are available from PCM, any of its Participating Dealers (“PDs“) for the ETF, or any of its authorised distributors for the unit trust managed by PCM.

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With effect from 1st July 2014, this FATCA Notice (the “Notice”) forms part of the terms and conditions of our products and services (the “Terms and Conditions”) governing your relationship (“you”, “your”, “yours” referred to herein include joint-account holders and beneficiary holders of an entity who are a natural person) with Phillip Capital Management (S) Ltd and its related corporations (collectively referred to herein as “PCM”, “us”, “we” or “our”) and should be read in conjunction with those Terms and Conditions, including those under our Personal Data Protection Notice.The existing terms and conditions of any contractual agreement entered into between PCM a nd you (the “Existing Terms and Conditions”) remain in full force and effect. In the event of any conflict or inconsistency between the provisions of this Notice and those of the Existing Terms and Conditions, the provisions of this Notice shall prevail.

We may from time to time update the Terms and Conditions listed here to ensure their consistency with our future developments,industry trends and/or any changes in legal or regulatory requirements. Such updates will be published at http://www.phillipfunds.com/ .

On March 18, 2010, the United States of America’s (“U.S.”) Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act of 2010 (Pub.L.111-147H.R.2847)) (the “Act”) was enacted into law. Section 501(a) of the Act added a new chapter 4 (sections 1471-1474) to Subtitle A of the U.S.’s Internal Revenue Code (Code).Chapter 4 expands the information reporting requirements imposed on foreign financial institutions (as defined in section 1471(d)(4)) (FFIs) with respect to certain U.S. accounts (as defined in section 1471(d)(1)) of specified U.S. person, and imposes withholding, documentation, and reporting requirements with respect to certain payments made to certain foreign entities.

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“FATCA” or “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act” means Chapter 4 (sections 1471 to 1474) to Subtitle A of the U.S.Internal Revenue Code.

“U.S. person” means a U.S. citizen or resident individual, a partnership or corporation organised in the U.S. or under the laws of the U.S. or any state of the U.S. thereof, a trust if: (i) a court within the U.S.would have authority under the applicable law to render orders or judgments concerning substantially all issues regarding the administration of the trust; and (ii) one or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust, or an estate of a decedent that is a citizen or resident of the U.S..This definition shall be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.

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PDPA

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION NOTICE

With effect from 1st July 2014, this Personal Data Protection Notice (the “Notice”) forms part of the terms and conditions of our products and services (the “Terms and Conditions”) governing your relationship (“you”, “your”, “yours” referred to herein include joint-account holders and beneficiary holders of an entity who are a natural person) with Phillip Capital Management (S) Ltd and its related corporations (collectively referred to herein as “PCM”, “us”, “we” or “our”). Without prejudice to the existing terms and conditions of any contractual agreement entered into between PCM and you (the “Existing Terms and Conditions”), which remain in full force and effect, this Notice shall be read in conjunction with the Existing Terms and Conditions. In the event of any conflict or inconsistency between the provisions of this Notice and those of the Existing Terms and Conditions, the provisions of this Notice shall prevail.

We are required under the Personal Data Protection Act (“PDPA”) to put in place the necessary arrangements to protect personal data and comply with the PDPA. Personal data includes any data and information, whether true or not, about an individual (a natural person) who can be identified from that data or information, such as your name, NRIC, passport or other identification number, telephone numbers, address, email address and any other information relating to individuals which you or your authorized representative have provided to us or we are likely to have access to (“Personal Data”).

This Notice outlines the purposes for the collection, use and/or disclosure of your Personal Data by PCM, how we protect your Personal Data and your rights with respect to the collection, use and/or disclosure of your Personal Data. This Notice supplements but does not supersede nor replace any other consents which you may have previously provided to us in respect of your Personal Data, and your consents herein are additional to any rights which we may have at law to collect, use and/or disclose your Personal Data. We may from time to time update the Terms and Conditions listed here to ensure their consistency with our future developments, industry trends and/or any changes in legal or regulatory requirements. Such updates will be published at http://www.phillipfunds.com/.

1. PCM may collect, use and/or disclose your personal data for any of the following purposes listed below (collectively “Permitted Purposes”):-

i) carrying out activities, duties and obligations in connection with our products and services which you have applied for, including evaluating your eligibility and credit profile, verifying the identity or authority of your representatives, administration of your account and/or managing our overall relationship with you (including but not limited to the outsourcing of any of our functions to service providers or vendors, due diligence checks, accounting and portfolio valuation, billing and collections, business continuity and print management);

(ii) developing new services and/or products;

(iii) providing you with marketing, advertising and promotional information, materials and/or documents related to financial products and/or services that we may be selling, marketing, offering or promoting, whether such financial products or services exist now or are created in the future;

(iv) marketing and promotional events, including but not limited to images, photographs or videos of you during the events;

(v) meeting or complying with PCM’s internal policies and procedures and any applicable rules, law, regulations, codes of practice or guidelines, orders or requests issued by any court, legal or regulatory bodies (both national and international) (including but not limited to disclosures to regulatory authorities or financial industry self-regulatory bodies; conducting audit checks (internal/external), surveillance and investigation; handling of customer feedback or complaint; dispute resolutions; recording of telephone conversations and/or electronic communications with you; conducting checks or investigations for prevention and/or detection of financial crimes such as money-laundering, financing of terrorism, fraud and/or bribery etc.);

(vi) legal purposes, including but not limited to obtaining legal advice and enforcing or defending our legal and/or contractual rights against you;

(vii) risk management, statistical and trend analysis;

(viii) processing and/or storing data and/or information related to your relationship with PCM.

2. PCM, in order to facilitate the discharge of its duties and obligations to you, may be required to disclose your Personal Data for the Permitted Purposes and/or for processing of the Permitted Purposes on a need-to-know basis, to any of the following entities and the directors, officers, staff, employees and agents of any such entities, whether located within or outside Singapore (“Relevant Persons”):-

(i) any associate or related company of PCM and the directors, officers, staff, employees and agents of any such person;

(ii) any actual or proposed assignee or transferee of any of PCM’s rights and obligations or any actual or proposed delegate of any of PCM’s functions and duties under its contractual relationship with you;

(iii) any relevant governmental, supervisory or regulatory authority or court of law, including the Monetary Authority of Singapore, to which PCM is or may be subject;

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(x) any person as PCM may consider necessary in order to comply with any order, directive or policy of any court or governmental or regulatory authority in any jurisdiction;

(xi) any person when required to do so in accordance with the laws of any applicable jurisdiction or rules of any professional self-regulatory bodies or securities exchanges;

(xii) any agent, contractor or third party service provider who provides their services in connection with the operation of PCM’s fund management business, including but not limited to the custodians, trustees, fund administrators, registrars, banks, legal firms, accounting and auditing firms, printing firms, IT service providers, credit reference agencies, credit bureaus, data screening entities for the purpose of due diligence checks and the prevention and detection of financial crimes.

3. PCM’s related companies and third party service providers shall be bound by the same provisions as set out in this Notice and we will require them to ensure that your Personal Data are kept confidential and secure.

4. You represent and warrant that your Personal Data provided to us is accurate and complete for us to make a decision that affects you or to disclose your Personal Data to the above-mentioned Relevant Persons on a need-to-know basis. Where applicable, when you provided Personal Data relating to another individual (e.g. your dependent, spouse, children and/or parents) to us, you represent and warrant that such Personal Data is accurate and complete and the consent of that individual has been obtained for the collection, use and disclosure of his/her Personal Data in accordance with the provisions listed in this Notice.

5. We will retain your Personal Data to the extent that one or more of the Purposes for which your Personal Data was collected, used and/or disclosed is/are still valid and for legal, regulatory reporting or regulatory investigations purposes for which retention may be necessary.

6. PCM may terminate any contractual relationship which you may have with us, if any information provided to us is insufficient, misleading or erroneous or if any information that is required to be disclosed to any regulatory authority for compliance with any law or regulation is not provided by you.

7. You may request access to or make corrections to your Personal Data records. Depending on the information requested PCM may charge a small fee when you request access to your Personal Data. Upon your request and subject to the provisions under the PDPA, PCM will respond accordingly within reasonably possible time. Please submit your request to our Data Protection Officer via pcm@phillip.com.sg.

8. You may withdraw your consent to any use or disclosure of your Personal Data for any or all of the Purposes as set out in this Notice by giving written notice to us. If you withdraw your consent(s), depending on the nature of your request, we may not be in a position to continue to provide our products or services to you or administer any contractual relationship in place. Such withdrawal may be considered a termination by you of any agreement you may have with us. Where there is any breach of your contractual obligations or undertakings, PCM’s legal rights and remedies are expressly reserved in such event.

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While every care has been taken in preparing the contents contained in the Website, such contents are provided to you “as is” and “as available” without warranty of any kind either express or implied. In particular, no warranty regarding non-infringement, security, accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose or freedom from computer virus is given in conjunction with such contents. Member companies of PhillipCapital, their directors, officers, associates, agents and affiliates make no representations, endorsements or warranties of any kind about the services, content, information and/or data contained in the Website.

Separate Contracts

The provision of any service or products provided by PhillipCapital and/or its member companies through the Website shall be expressly subject to the particular terms and conditions as contained in the contract for the supply of such service or product. Any warranties or representations made in relation to the provision of such service or product are as made in the contract only and PhillipCapital and/or its member companies make no separate warranty or representation through the Website or through these general terms of use.

Exclusion of Liability and Indemnity

In no event shall PhillipCapital and/or its member companies be liable to you for any loss, damage, costs, charges and/or expenses of whatsoever nature and howsoever arising including legal fees on a full indemnity basis, cost of funding and loss or cost incurred by you as a result of or in connection with:

  1. any access, use or the inability to access or use this website, use of or reliance on the contents of this website;
  2. any transaction performed on any web page in the Website;
  3. any loss or abuse or unauthorized disclosure of information, including customer information;
  4. any system, server or connection failure, error, omission, interruption, interception, delay in operation or transmission, or computer virus;
  5. any use of or access to any websites linked to the Website;
  6. any service, product, information, data, software or other materials obtained from this Website or from any other websites linked to this Website;
  7. breach or violation of any third party rights, including but not limited to the violation of any proprietary or intellectual property rights or the enforcement of any of these general terms of use.

Governing Law

These general terms of use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Singapore and all parties hereby agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Republic of Singapore.

Products and services referred to in this website are offered only in jurisdictions where and when they may be lawfully offered by PhillipCapital and/or its member companies. The contents in the Website are not intended for use by persons located in or resident in jurisdictions that restrict the distribution of such materials by us. Persons accessing these pages are required to inform themselves about and observe any relevant restrictions. The terms and conditions governing the use of the Website of each member company of PhillipCapital may differ and you should consult and carefully read the applicable terms and conditions before using the website.

Privacy and Security

  1. Our CommitmentWe believe in protecting your privacy. We ask that you read this privacy policy carefully as it contains important information about what to expect when we collect personal data about you and how we will use your personal data.
  2. Types Of Personal DataGenerally, we collect personal data that is linked to an individual. For example, an individual’s name, address, phone number and email address. This is not an exhaustive list and we may collect other types of personal data from you.

    Apart from personal data, we may collect other types of information which is not linked to an individual and which is anonymous. For example, the number of website visitors and the number of website users using a particular service. In this way, we hope to improve our customer services.

  3. Purpose For Collection, Processing And Disclosure Of Personal DataCollectionGenerally, personal data is collected for the following purposes: providing a service and / or a product to you; and legal compliance on our part under applicable laws.

    Processing and disclosureWe may process and disclose personal data with and to group companies or business partners or third party service providers, for the purposes stated above.
    In addition, there may be circumstances under applicable laws where we are permitted to collect, process and disclose personal data without your consent. You may obtain more information by contacting us (Please see contact details on our website under “Contact Us” tab).

  4. Transfer Of Personal Data OverseasTo the extent that we may need to transfer personal data outside of Singapore, whether to our group companies or business partners or third party service providers or simply to data storage facilities, we shall do so in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act, 2012 (“PDPA”) to ensure that we provide a standard of protection to personal data so transferred that is comparable to the protection under the PDPA.
  5. ConsentGenerally, when we request for personal data in the course of providing you a service and/or product and you provide use with such personal data, there is implied consent that you agree to provide us with personal data in order for us to provide you with the requested service and / or product.
    In some circumstances and as required by applicable laws, we will seek your express consent when collecting your personal data. For example, where there are new purposes for the use of your personal data, we will seek your fresh consent.
    In addition, you are able to withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us (please see contact details on our website under the ‘Contact Us’ tab).
  6. Situations Not Requiring ConsentWe will not sell, rent or otherwise disclose your personal data to any third party, without your consent except in the following circumstances:
    we may share non-personal, non-individual information in aggregate form with third parties for business purposes, for example with advertisers on our website or we may tell our business partners the number of customers in certain demographic groups who purchased certain products or who carried out certain transactions; and / or as permitted under the laws of Singapore.
  7. Access And CorrectionYou are entitled to certain access and correction rights to your personal data. We may charge a reasonable administrative fee for this service. In exceptional circumstances, we reserve the right to deny you access to your personal data and may provide an explanation as required by applicable laws.
  8. RetentionPersonal data will be held for as long as it is necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected, or as required or permitted by applicable laws. We shall cease to retain personal data, or remove the means by which the personal data can be associated with particular individuals, as soon as it is reasonable to assume that the purpose for which that personal data was collected is no longer being served by retention of the personal data and retention is no longer necessary for legal or business purposes.
  9. AccuracyIn order to ensure that your personal data is current, complete and accurate, please update us of any changes to your personal data by contacting us (please see contact details on our website under the ‘Contact Us’ tab) or by logging on to your user account if you are a registered user on our website.
  10. Data SecuritySecurity is our top priority. PhillipCapital and/or its member companies will strive at all times to ensure that your personal data will be protected against unauthorized or accidental access, processing or erasure. We maintain this commitment to data security by implementing appropriate physical, electronic and managerial measures to safeguard and secure your personal data. You are advised to go directly to the domain name of PhillipCapital www.phillip.com.sg or www.poems.com.sg when logging onto POEMS website. You should not accept links or redirections from other websites or media for the purpose of logging onto the POEMS website.
    • The secure area of our website supports the use of Secure SocketLayer (SSL) protocol and 128-encryption technology – an industry standard for encryption over the Internet to protect data. When you provide sensitive information, it will be automatically converted into codes before being securely dispatched over the Internet.
    • The secure area of our website supports the use of Secure SocketLayer (SSL) protocol and 128-encryption technology – an industry standard for encryption over the Internet to protect data. When you provide sensitive information, it will be automatically converted into codes before being securely dispatched over the Internet.
    • Only your valid User ID and Password, which identify you uniquely, will allow you to log in to our secure website(s). This ensures that messages from authorized users only are admitted into our secure site(s).
    • All practical steps will be taken to ensure that personal data will not be kept longer than necessary and that PhillipCapital will comply with all statutory and regulatory requirements in Singapore concerning the retention of personally identifiable information.
  11. Security AssuranceWe endeavour to put in place high standards of security to protect your interests. You are responsible to ensure that your User ID and/or Password are not compromised by knowingly or accidentally sharing, providing or facilitating unauthorized use of it. Failure to do so exposes you to the risks of fraud and loss. PhillipCapital and/or its member companies will not be responsible for losses suffered by customers as a result of:

    a. input errors or misuse of its internet services;
    b. negligent handling or sharing of Password;
    c. leaving a computer unattended during an online session;
    d. failure to immediately report known accidents of unauthorized account access.Member companies of PhillipCapital will never ask you for your Password. In order to ensure that you are the only person who knows this information:

    • You should safeguard your unique User ID and Password by keeping it secret and confidential. Do not share your User ID and Password with anyone or write them down, as you are responsible for all transactions undertaken with your User ID and Password.
    • Ensure that no one can see your Password when you log in to our system.
    • When choosing your Password, do not create it using easily identifiable information such as your birthday, telephone number, a recognizable part of your name, spouse’s name, dictionary words, common character sequences such as “123456”, licence plate number, passport number, social security number. The user-chosen password must have at least six (6) characters and are best recommended to be alphanumeric.
    • Change your Password regularly. Do not recycle your recently used Password.
    • The same Password should not be used for different websites, applications or services particularly when you relate to different entities.
    • Do not select the option on your browser for storing or retaining User ID and Password.
    • If you think your User ID and/or password has been disclosed to a third party, is lost or stolen and unauthorized transactions may have been conducted, you are responsible to inform us immediately.
    • You should log out of your online trading session when you have completed your online trading transactions or when you need to walk away from your computer even for just a while. Do not leave your computer unattended while online trading transactions are being processed.
  12. Security Measures To Prevent Keystrokes Being CapturedIt is advisable to take the necessary precautions to protect your personal computer against viruses and other malicious programs. Besides damaging and/or destroying data, viruses and malicious programs can capture your Password keystrokes and other personal information and send them to another person without your consent. Some precautions to take:
    • Ensure that you install an effective personal firewall, anti-virus, anti-spyware as well as anti-Trojan horse software. These should be updated regularly.
    • Do not download any software from a website that is of doubtful origin.
    • Do not open any email or attachment that is from a source unknown to you. When in doubt, delete such email without opening it.
  13. Alert on PhishingThere have been fraud cases connected with the scam known as ‘phishing’. The scam makes use of unsolicited emails and/or fraudulent websites to trick people into disclosing confidential personal details such as user-names and passwords. You are advised to stay alert to avoid falling prey to the following scam techniques used by fraudsters:
    • Use of false email addresses, logos and graphics to mislead people into accepting the validity of emails and websites;
    • Faking domain names to appear as if they represent the actual companies;
    • Duping people into providing personal details through one or more methods such as hyperlinks to fake websites or embedded forms in emails.
  14. Clearing Your CacheWe strongly advise that you clear your browser’s disk cache after each online trading session.
    Cache files on a computer can retain images of data sent or received over the Internet, making them a potential target for a system intruder.
  15. Updates To Privacy PolicyWe keep our privacy policy under regular review. If we change our privacy policy, we will post the changes on this website, so that you may be aware of the information we collect and how we use it. Such changes to our privacy policy shall apply from the time that we post the same on this website. Your continued use of our website will be taken as acceptance of the updated privacy policy, but we will seek your fresh consent before we collect more personal data from you or we wish to use or disclose your personal data for new purposes.
  16. CookiesA cookie is an alphanumeric identifier which we transfer to your hard drive through your web browser when you visit our website. It enables our own system to recognise you when you visit our website again and improve our service to you. The information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. For further information about cookies visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org. Cookies may also be used to compile aggregate information about areas of our websites that are visited most frequently. This traffic information can be used to enhance the content of our website and make your use of it easier. If you wish to reject our cookie, you can configure your browser to do so. However, in a few cases some of our website features may not function if you remove cookies from your browser.
  17. Hyperlinks from PhillipCapital to Third Party WebsitesPhillipCapital and/or its member companies are not responsible for the contents available on or the set-up of any other websites linked to our websites. These hyperlinks lead to websites published or operated by third parties who are not affiliated with or in any way related to PhillipCapital and/or its member companies. Access to and use of such other websites is at the user’s own risk and subject to any terms and conditions applicable to such access/use.
    By providing hyperlinks to a third party website or webpage, PhillipCapital and/or its member companies shall not be deemed to endorse, recommend, approve, guarantee or introduce any third parties or the services/products they provide on their websites, or to have any form of cooperation with such third parties and websites unless otherwise stated by PhillipCapital and/or its member companies.
    We are not in any way responsible for the content of any third party website or webpage. PhillipCapital and/or its member companies is/are not a party/parties to any contractual arrangements entered into between you and the provider of the third party website unless otherwise expressly specified or agreed to by PhillipCapital and/or its member companies.
    Any links to websites that contain downloadable software are provided for your convenience only. We are not responsible for any difficulties you may encounter in downloading the software or for any consequences from your doing so. Please remember that the use of any software downloaded from the Internet may be governed by a licence agreement and your failure to observe the terms of such licence agreement may result in an infringement of intellectual property rights of the relevant software provider, which we are not in any way responsible.
  18. Hyperlinks from Third Party Websites to PhillipCapitalYou must always obtain the prior written approval of PhillipCapital and/or its member companies before creating a hyperlink in any form from a third party website to any PhillipCapital website or webpage. PhillipCapital and/or its member companies may or may not give such approval at its absolute discretion.
    PhillipCapital and/or its member companies is/are not responsible for the setup of any hyperlink from a third party website to any PhillipCapital website or webpage. Any links so set up shall not constitute any form of co-operation with, or endorsement by, PhillipCapital and/or its member companies of such third party website. Any link to our Website shall always be an active and direct link to our Website and no “framing” or “deep-linking” of our web page or content is allowed, unless prior approval by PhillipCapital.
    PhillipCapital and its member companies are not liable for any loss or damage incurred or suffered by you or any third party arising out of or in connection with such link. PhillipCapital and/or its member companies reserve the right to rescind any approval granted to link through a plain-text link or any other type of link, and to require the removal of any such link to any PhillipCapital websites, at our discretion at any time.
  19. EmailEmail messages sent to PhillipCapital or any of its member companies over the Internet cannot be guaranteed to be completely secure. PhillipCapital will not be responsible for any damages incurred by users if they send a message to PhillipCapital or any of its member companies, or if PhillipCapital or any of its member companies sends a message to them at their request, over the Internet. PhillipCapital or any of its member companies are not responsible in any manner for direct, indirect, special or consequential damages arising out of the use of this Website. If you encounter any suspicious email, passing off as an email from POEMS or Phillip, please notify us immediately at (65) 65311555.
  20. Transmission Over The InternetDue to the nature of the Internet, transactions may be subject to interruption, interception, transmission blackout, delayed transmission and incorrect data transmission. Regardless of any security measures taken by us, PhillipCapital and/or its member companies shall assume no responsibility whatsoever for any loss or expense resulting from such delays, interruptions and/or interceptions.
  21. DownloadingWe do not represent or warrant that this website will be available and meet your requirements, that access will not be interrupted, that there will be no delays, failures, errors or omissions or loss of transmitted information, that no viruses or other contaminating or destructive properties will be transmitted or that no damage will occur to your computer system.
    You have sole responsibility for adequate protection and back up of data and/or equipment and for undertaking reasonable and appropriate precautions to scan for computer viruses or other destructive properties. We make no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy, functionality or performance of any third party software that may be used in connection with the website.
  22. English Version to PrevailIf there are inconsistencies in meaning between the English version of these terms and conditions and the terms and conditions as may be translated into any other language, the English version shall prevail.
  23. Prevailing TermsIf you have agreed to our terms and conditions of account opening, as the case may be, in the event of inconsistency between such terms and conditions and this privacy policy, such terms and conditions of account opening shall prevail.
  24. Governing LawNote that as we are a Singapore registered company, this privacy policy has been drafted solely in accordance with the laws of Singapore. We do not represent or warrant that this privacy policy complies with the privacy laws of any other jurisdiction and accordingly, you shall not construe this privacy policy as such.
  25. Contact UsIf you any comments or questions about this privacy policy, please contact the Data Protection Officer in writing (please see contact details on our website under the ‘Contact Us’ tab) referencing ‘Privacy and Security’.
  26. DisclaimerOur website may contain links to other websites. Please note that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other websites and advise you to read the privacy statements of each website you visit which collects personal data.
  27. IMPORTANT:By accessing this website and any of its pages you are agreeing to the terms set out above.