Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing has announced the results of its 27-for-10 rights offering, the subscription period of which ended on April 6, 2009. The rights offering was oversubscribed with applications totaling approximately 144% of the offering size. The rights offering will strengthen its capital position.

Singapore's exports fell for a 10th month in February, as a collapse in global demand for electronics and pharmaceuticals extended the longest slump in the nation's overseas sales since 2002.

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing said it would cut 600 jobs, about 8% of its global work force, as it swung to a fourth-quarter net loss amid a drop-off in demand and delayed deliveries.

Singapore's economy may shrink a record 5% this year as exports slump, increasing pressure on the government to take steps to help businesses and consumers. The export-dependent nation has been battered by declining orders for electronics goods and pharmaceuticals from its biggest customers in the US and Europe, as well as emerging markets.

Chartered Semiconductor exemplifies the problems facing Singapore's ailing electronics sector after warning that it will suffer its biggest loss in nearly four years when it reports its results for the last quarter of 2008.

"There is no denying that fundamental weakness in demand is turning from bad to worse," Irvin Seah, an economist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd. in Singapore, said in a report today. The outlook for manufacturers in the coming months "will not be a pretty picture."