Daily Briefing: MAS warns of market risks due to bloc fever; Samsung leak unveils new Galaxy smartphone

And here are three firms that bought back their shares this week.

From PropertyGuru:

The recent surge in collective sales poses potential risks to the stability of the local property sector. Hence, market players should proceed cautiously, according to the 2017 Financial Stability Review (FSR) published by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Thursday, 30 November.

“20 residential projects totalling about 2,900 units have been sold through en bloc transactions as of mid-November, up from six in the whole of 2016 and one in 2015. The redevelopment of these en bloc sites (coupled with supply from GLS sites) could potentially add another 20,000 new private housing units. This will more than double the number of unsold units currently in the pipeline within the next one to two years.”

Read more here.

From Forbes:

At CES Samsung is expected to unveil both a remarkable folding ‘Galaxy X’ and an all-new Galaxy S9. But new leaks also reveal Samsung is working on a far more radical Galaxy smartphone than either of them...

Popular Dutch tech site LetsGoDigital has the scoop having uncovered a brand new Samsung WIPO (World International Property Office) patent which details how the company will build a completely bezel-less phone. And this is not ‘bezel-less’ like the meaningless marketing terms being thrown around by smartphone companies today. This is zero bezels, no notch, nothing.

Read more here.

From The Motley Fool:

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, or OCBC for short, is the longest established local bank and is the second largest financial services group in Southeast Asia by assets.

On 27, 28 and 29 November 2017, OCBC repurchased 600,000 shares at a price range of between S$12.07 and S$12.26 apiece. The total cost was around S$7.3 million.

Shares of OCBC are going at S$12.44 now, giving a price-to-book ratio of 1.4 and a dividend yield of 2.9%.

Read more here.