Singapore shares rose marginally last Friday, as equity markets in Asia were range-bound ahead of the release of non-farm payroll data in the United States. Mainboard-listed Excelpoint Technology jumped 29.61 per cent to S$1.16, a day after it released its net earnings that more than quadrupled to US$12 million for the half-year ended June. It also posted a 45.3 per cent rise in top line for the half year to US$740.9 million, due to higher sales from the Singapore and Hong Kong business units.

BioNTech’s earnings beat expectations in the quarter to the end of June; the German biotech firm recorded a net profit of €2.8bn (U$3.3bn), up from a small loss in the same period last year. BioNTech also raised its sales forecasts on the strength of its covid-19 vaccine, of which it has produced 1bn doses and has orders for another 2.2bn this year.