What began as a sharp sell-off in OCBC shares on Wednesday has turned into something much bigger. OCBC plunged 5.9% on October 7 after Citi downgraded the stock to “Sell”. Then, on Thursday, October 8, the selling intensified. OCBC fell another 4.3% to S$29.00. But this time it wasn’t alone. DBS fell 4.7% to S$73.85,
OCBC shares plunged 5.9% on October 7, but the bigger story may not be about OCBC alone. The sell-off spread across Singapore’s three major banks, with DBS falling 1.4% and UOB declining 2.9% on the same day. The result was a 1.6% decline in the Straits Times Index, which fell 93 points to 5,608.44. For
For years, one of the easiest ways to describe Singapore equities has been through what investors think the market lacks: growth, liquidity, new listings and international attention. But there is another problem that receives less attention. Some companies may have too much capital — and too little imagination about what to do with it. That
At first glance, the potential listing of a Mapletree India office REIT looks like another property-market transaction. Four office parks go into a trust. Investors buy units. Mapletree raises capital. The properties become publicly traded. But that misses the more important investment story. Mapletree may be demonstrating how a Singapore-based property group can turn India’s
MAS has stress-tested Singapore’s corporate sector against a severe AI investment shock. For investors, the next question is more practical: which AI beneficiaries have enough financial resilience to withstand a slowdown? The biggest mistake investors can make with Singapore’s AI trade is to treat all beneficiaries as the same. They are not. A semiconductor equipment
The AI Trade Has Two Sides: Which Singapore Stocks Can Survive a Capex Downturn? Read More »
Singapore’s REIT market may have reached an uncomfortable stage in its evolution. There are plenty of assets. There is still income. Balance sheets are generally healthier than during the 2022–24 rate shock. Yet many trusts remain stuck below book value, unable to issue equity economically and therefore unable to grow without taking on more expensive
S-Reits Consolidation: Could Higher Interest Rates Finally Force a Shake-Up? Read More »
Grab is spending US$1.49 billion to acquire 60 per cent of Atome Financial. The strategic logic is compelling. But for investors, the harder question is whether Grab can turn that faster route into financial-services growth without sacrificing capital discipline or taking on too much credit risk. Grab is trying to do something that would otherwise
Grab’s US$1.5 Billion Atome Deal: Growth Engine or Expensive Shortcut? Read More »
MAS says 32% of Singapore-listed companies could become financially vulnerable under a severe AI-investment downturn. But the more important number is 16% — and it changes what investors should worry about. Singapore’s artificial-intelligence boom has created an obvious investment narrative. AI is driving demand for semiconductors. Data centres need more electricity. Semiconductor equipment orders are
StarHub’s potential acquisition of M1 could reshape Singapore’s telecommunications industry, reducing the number of mobile network operators from four to three. But the investment story goes well beyond the headline of “telco consolidation”. The key question for investors is whether StarHub can acquire M1 at a price and financing structure that allows it to capture
StarHub’s M1 Deal: Can Singapore Telco Consolidation Finally Unlock Value? Read More »
Singapore’s stock market has spent years worrying about the number of companies listed on the Singapore Exchange. But SGX chairman Koh Boon Hwee says that may be the wrong question. In his latest annual letter, Koh argued that the number of listed companies is an “outdated metric” for judging the success of Singapore’s market. His