Daily Briefing: Aberdeen sniffs bargain amid local banks’ debt panic; More oil bond defaults haunt Singapore

And Singapore balks on Lockheed’s jets sale.

The recent drubbing in Singapore bank stocks is turning Southeast Asia’s biggest lenders into bargains for money managers including Aberdeen Asset Management Plc. DBS Group Holdings Ltd. lost S$3.6 billion ($2.7 billion) in market value in seven days from July 28 when its client Swiber Holdings Ltd. signaled it was in financial trouble. Read more here.

The island nation’s permanent secretary of defense development informed the U.S. in mid-June that it was delaying final steps toward purchasing four of the fighters by about 2022, with an option to buy eight more, according to the information presented to Pentagon officials last month as part of their regular reviews of the costliest weapons program. Read more here.

Singapore bondholders and lenders, already stung by Swiber Holdings Ltd.’s woes, face mounting pain as a drop in oil leaves more companies in the industry starved for cash. Investment bank UOB Kay Hian Pte warned last week that the sector may suffer a "cascade" of defaults. Read more here.