Another week, another round of all-time highs for the STI

Date: September 15, 2025

• DBS’s all-time highs led the STI to new all-time highs
• Wall St continued to bet on a rate cut this week
• Analysts continued to rerate DBS upwards
• Centurion’s shareholders approve REIT listing plan
• Centurion’s REIT to offer units at S$0.88 each
• LHN in play after Coliwoo listing approval, positive Q3 update
• YZJ Shipbuilding, DFI Retail and City Dev saw most institutional inflow since June: SGX Research
• SGX to launch index that tracks non-STI stocks

As rises DBS to new highs, so rises the STI to new highs

The Straits Times Index closed at two successive all-time highs on Wednesday and Thursday last week, before falling on Friday. Its net gain was 37 points or 0.9% at 4,344.24.

Average daily volume amounted to S$1.41b versus S$1.32b the previous week.

DBS was the main index driver, its shares on Wednesday touched an intraday peak of S$52.87 before closing at S$52.73, up S$1.85 or 3.64% on volume of 8.4m.

The rise helped the Straits Times Index gain 48.49 points or 1.14% to at a new all-time high of 4,346.46 that day. On Friday when DBS dropped S$0.78 to S$51.79, the STI recorded a loss of almost 12 points.

For the week, DBS added S$0.98 or 1.9%.

Wall Street continued to bet heavily on a rate cut this week

On Wednesday, the August producer price index fell on an month-to-month basis for both core and headline measures. The readings also decelerated on a year-on-year basis from July.

However, on Thursday, the headline August consumer price index came in a bit hotter than expected while the core CPI matched July’s rise.

Despite these mixed signals, stocks continued to remain firm in anticipation of the US Federal Reserve’s meeting this week. In the futures market, the probability of a rate cut on Wednesday was 100% – 93% that the reduction will be 25 basis points and 7% that it might be 50 basis points.

For the week, the benchmark S&P 500 index added 1.6%, while the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.0%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 2.0%.

Analysts continued to rerate DBS upwards

Maybank’s head of equity research, Mr Thilan Wickramasinghe, suggested that the correlation between DBS’ and STI’s performance might be attributed to the perception of the bank as a proxy for safe haven flows into Singapore.

“With a number of geopolitical flashes in the Middle East and regionally this week, there is likely some flight to safety and quality.”

He added that DBS’ dividend yield is highly visible until 2027, and with expectations of further interest rate cuts from the US Federal Reserve in September, the bank is an attractive proposition for investors.

JP Morgan upgraded the bank to “overweight” on Sept 9 with a target price of S$56, citing its “sector-high” dividend yield spread as the reason for its re-rating.

It had previously downgraded the bank in May to “neutral” with a target price of S$47, due to limited share upside forecast, as well as net interest margin compression hitting the banks at that time.

UOB Kay Hian also revised its target price for DBS to S$54.40, from $52.80 previously.

The value of trades in DBS on Wed was S$441.1 million, compared with its average of S$220 million this year. The Business Times quoted SGX market strategist Geoff Howie saying “this had a significant impact on the STI, given DBS’ 26% index weight, up from 23% a year ago’’.

Centurion’s shareholders approve REIT listing plan

Workers and student accommodation builder Centurion Corp  won overwhelming support at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Wednesday for its planned listing of Centurion Accommodation Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) and related transactions.

This includes the divestment of selected assets into the new REIT, Centurion’s role as the sponsor and manager of the trust, and the board’s authorisation to take all the necessary steps to implement the listing.

At the EGM, nearly 100% of the votes cast by shareholders in person or by proxy gave their nod of approval. The shares represented by these votes accounted for 420.7 million shares, while shareholders holding 7,200 shares voted against.

Chief executive Kong Chee Min acknowledged shareholder concerns raised at the EGM, that divesting Centurion’s top assets to the REIT could leave the group with less attractive ones.

He said: “We have 37 operating assets and are putting only 14 (suitable ones) into the Reit.” The 14 properties include five purpose-built worker accommodation assets in Singapore, eight purpose-built student accommodation assets in Britain and one in Australia.

Centurion’s REIT to offer units at S$0.88 each

Centurion on Thursday said that it will offer a total of 262.2 million units – comprising an international placement tranche of 248.96 million units and a public offering of 13.2 million units – at an offer price of S$0.88 per unit.

The manager intends to raise gross proceeds of approximately S$1.5 billion from the offering, the cornerstone units, the sponsor subscription units and the consideration units.

Following the offering, the new Centurion Accommodation Reit will have 1.7 billion issued units, of which 787.4 million units will be held by Centurion Holdings, the Reit’s sponsor, and 614 million units will be held by the 16 cornerstone investors.

Its cornerstone investors include Amova Asset Management, DBS, Eastspring Investments and Lion Global Investors.

LHN in play after Coliwoo listing approval, positive Q3 update

Shares of real estate managers LHN jumped S$0.07 or 8.1% on Wednesday on volume of 11.7m to S$0.93 after news that SGX has approved the mainboard listing of LHN’s co-living business Coliwoo, and an upbeat update of the group’s third-quarter performance.

They continued to rise for the rest of the week, ending at S$1.05 on Friday.

LHN also said in a separate statement that its move to delist from Hong Kong has been approved by the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and the company’s shareholders.

It had cited weak trading volumes for its decision to quit the Hong Kong market. The last day of its trading there is expected to be Oct 30, and the company will delist on Nov 4 at the close of trading at 4 pm.

In its third-quarter business update, LHN said its space optimisation business remained a major revenue contributor.

As at Jun 30, the company managed more than 330,000 sq ft of commercial properties and over 1.8 million sq ft of industrial properties. During the quarter, it renewed two existing master leases for industrial properties at Depot Lane and Woodlands Mandai Estate, while its Work+Store storage solutions business launched its second air-conditioned facility at 38 Ang Mo Kio.

YZJ Shipbuilding, DFI Retail and City Dev saw most institutional inflow since June: SGX Research

In an 11 Sep Market Update, SGX Research noted that on Sep 10, the Straits Times Index (STI) reached a new intraday high of 4,355.84, before ending the session at 4,346.46 and that this extended its 2025 total return to 19.6%, with an 11.5% total return, since June.

The rally has also seen the market capitalisation of the Singapore stock market rise to S$983B.

“Since June, the STI has been led by Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, DFI Retail, and City Developments with the latter booking the highest net institutional inflow proportionate to market capitalisation among the 30 constituents. The three saw similar upward revisions to the their consensus estimate target prices’’ reported SGX Research.

SGX to launch index that tracks non-STI stocks

SGX will launch an index that tracks listed companies that are not constituents of the STI as part of efforts to showcase its broader equity market, said Monetary Authority of Singapore deputy chairman Chee Hong Tat last week.

“This new index will provide a useful lens to track how the next tier of large and liquid companies are evolving – whether through business-model transformation, improved governance or stronger capital-management initiatives,” said Mr Chee, who is also minister for national development.

He is also the chair of the equities review group set up by the central bank in August last year to look into strengthening Singapore’s equities market.

“Over time, we hope to see more indices emerge, covering areas such as corporate governance and sustainability – creating a virtuous circle and generating positive momentum for the entire market,” he added.