Monthly Market Wrap: A strong start to the month – followed by a three-week consolidation

Date: November 3, 2025

• The STI recorded a new all-time closing high of 4,472.26 on 7 Oct
• It fell back but still gained 3% for the month at 4,428.62
• The US Fed cut interest rates as expected, but signalled possibly no cut in Dec
• Keppel will use cash from asset monetisation to reward shareholders
• Wilmar reported US$347.7m Q3 loss after 11.9t rupiah graft penalty
• SGX announced new measures to move towards a less prescriptive market
• Analysts raised their targets for the STI to as high as 6,000
• Fast shares hit all-time high following release of strong 3Q results
• Coliwoo launched its mainboard IPO at S$0.60 per share
• More than 20 of 100 most traded stocks this year are non-big caps: SGX Research

 

First, an all-time high – followed by a consolidation

The Straits Times Index kicked off the month on a high – an all-time high, that is, which was 4,472.26 at which it closed on 7 Oct.

However thereafter the upward momentum ran out of steam, with the index dipping to finish the month at 4,428.62. Still, for October the STI recorded a gain of 128 points or 3% and a rise of 6 points or 0.14% for the final week that ended on Friday.

The Fed cut rates as expected – but signalled maybe no Dec cut

Although the US Federal Reserve last week cut its key interest rate by the widely-expected 25 basis points, Fed Chair Jerome Powell cast doubt on a rate cut at the next meeting by saying: “A further reduction in the policy rate at the December meeting is not a foregone conclusion. Far from it’’.

This pushed markets to price in a lower chance of a December cut. Markets are now pricing a 63% chance of a cut in December, down from a roughly 91% chance seen the day before the meeting, per the CME FedWatch Tool.

“The knee-jerk reaction of the markets to the Fed meeting (and press conference) was to sell stocks and bonds, because Chairman Powell said that an additional rate cut in December wasn’t a sure thing,” Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management in a report in US newspaper Barron’s.

“We think this will prove to be a buying opportunity because the Fed is likely to continue to support both stock and bond markets by cutting interest rates significantly over the next 12 months (even if they do keep rates unchanged in December).”

Keppel will use cash from asset monetisation to reward shareholders

Global asset manager and operator Keppel said it will use part of the cash unlocked from its ongoing asset monetisation – including the proposed divestment of M1’s telco business – to reward shareholders.

For the first nine months of FY2025, Keppel has announced the monetisation of about S$2.4 billion in assets, including the proposed M1 deal and its interests in environmental solutions provider 800 Super.

This brings the group’s total asset monetisation since October 2020 to about S$14 billion, including the divestment of Keppel Offshore & Marine in 2023.

Keppel said it is targeting over S$500 million more in monetisation deals in the next few months.

It is expected to unlock some S$1 billion in cash from the proposed sale of M1’s telco business to Simba Telecom, which is targeted to be completed by end-2025, subject to regulatory approval.

Keppel also expects the legal action against M1 by Liberty Wireless to not affect the sale, with any implication to affect only M1.

Wilmar reported US$347.7m Q3 loss after 11.9t rupiah graft penalty

Agribusiness group Wilmar International posted a net loss of US$347.7 million for the third quarter ended Sep 30, reversing from a net profit of US$254.4 million in the same period a year earlier.

The palm oil giant attributed the net loss to a payment of 11.9 trillion rupiah (S$926.6 million) in relation to the group’s actions amid a shortage of cooking oil in the country.

Last month, Wilmar was found guilty of corruption, after Indonesia’s Supreme Court overturned an earlier acquittal in a graft case involving cooking oil export permits during the shortage crisis from 2021 to 2022. The group had earlier handed over the sum in question as a “security deposit” in cash to the Indonesian authorities.

Wilmar previously said it expected to post a net loss for Q3 due to the court-imposed penalty, though it maintained that it anticipates a full-year net profit for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2025.

Excluding the payment, Wilmar’s Q3 core net profit rose 71.6% to US$357.2 million, from US$208.1 million a year earlier.

SGX announced new measures to move towards a less prescriptive market

Companies looking to make their trading debut on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) mainboard will now face a lower profit test threshold for admission. It has been reduced to S$10 million from S$30 million under revised quantitative admission criteria.

Besides broadening the diversity of companies listed on the bourse, the move is expected to give investors a wider range of high-quality investment options.

Effective from Wednesday (Oct 29), the revision is one of the new measures introduced by SGX Regulation (SGX RegCo), following a public consultation in May this year.

The other changes include limiting trading suspensions to situations with clear evidence of going-concern issues; removing the financial watch list; and amending admission requirements for life science companies.

For companies that want to list, SGX RegCo will retain key criteria to ensure that only issuers “with strong governance and financial health” are listed, it said.

This means that unmodified audit opinions remain mandatory to ensure companies comply with financial reporting standards.

Issuers must still confirm they have secured approvals and met legal requirements that could materially impact their operations.

Analysts raised their targets for the STI to as high as 6,000

JPMorgan analysts Khoi Vu and Rajiv Batra revised their 12-month STI bull target to 6,000 thanks to the Government’s initiatives to transform and revive the stock market. Their base target for the index was updated to 4,500, according to their Sep 21 report.

Meanwhile, Chua Jen-Ai, equity research analyst for Asia at Julius Baer, set her target for the STI at 4,500.

“Our target excludes dividends, which should bring potential total return to over 10 per cent when factored in,” she told The Business Times.

OCBC Investment Research and UOB Kay Hian analysts set their targets for the STI in a similar range as well, at 4,504 and 4,602, respectively.

Adrian Loh, head of equity research at UOB Kay Hian, said his top-down STI target was based on the research house’s forecast of 2026 earnings growth of 5% for the index’s stocks.

iFast shares hit all-time high following release of strong 3Q results

Shares of digital wealth management platform iFast closed 6.3% or S$0.58 higher at an all-time high of S$9.81 on Monday, the first trading day after it reported a 54.7% jump in net profit to S$26m for its third quarter ended Sep 30.

The company posted earnings per share of S$0.0856 for the quarter on profit of S$26 million, up from S$0.0564 the previous year. Revenue was up 37% year on year at S$135.8 million, from S$99.1 million.

In a briefing on Monday, iFast CEO Lim Chung Chun said that net inflows are expected to hit a record high for 2025, with net inflows for the three quarters already hitting S$3.71 billion, close to the record high of S$3.75 billion in the first nine months of 2021.

Coliwoo launched its mainboard IPO at S$0.60 per share

Property management services group LHN’s co-living business Coliwoo launched its initial public offer of 80.3 million shares at S$0.60 each for a mainboard listing.

The company registered its prospectus on Tuesday and its shares are expected to start trading on Nov 6.

The offering includes a placement of 75,004,000 shares to institutional and other investors, both within Singapore and internationally, excluding the United States. Additionally, a public offer of 5,300,000 shares will be made available to investors in Singapore.

Cornerstone investors, typically large institutions that subscribe before an IPO opens to the public, have also entered into separate agreements to subscribe for new shares. They include Avanda Investment Management, Maybank Asset Management Singapore and UOB Asset Management.

These cornerstone subscriptions amount to 87,996,000 shares at the offering price with these shares collectively representing approximately 18.3% of the total shares issued at the time of listing.

Net proceeds from the offering, including the cornerstone subscriptions, are expected to total approximately S$96.2 million.

Coliwoo plans to allocate approximately S$40 million of the gross proceeds to expand and enhance its co-living business through leased properties in existing and new markets.

Another S$34 million will be used for similar purposes through owned and joint venture properties. S$12 million will be directed towards loan repayment, and the remaining S$10.2 million will cover general working capital needs, including manpower, marketing, and professional fees.

More than 20 of 100 most traded stocks this year are non-big caps: SGX Research

In a 22 Oct Market Update, SGX Research reported that among Singapore’s 100 most traded stocks this year, more than 20 fall outside the top 100 by market cap and that these non-big-cap names are punching above their weight in liquidity and investor attention, with combined average daily turnover (ADT) of S$42.9 million and combined market cap of S$8.15 billion.

“Within the group, CNMC Goldmine, Oiltek International, Parkson Retail, and LHN rank among the top five stocks showing the largest percentage surge in trading activity—both in 2H25 versus 1H25, and in 2025 compared to 2024. Notably, CNMC Goldmine is also one of three Catalist-listed stocks in the mix’’ said SGX Research.

“In the Singapore stock market there are 22 stocks that rank among the 100 most traded stocks this year, while at the same time presently ranking outside the top 100 by market capitalisation. For instance, Catalist-listed ISOTeam’s average daily turnover of S$678,789 this year places it among Singapore’s 100 most traded stocks, while its market capitalisation of S$64 million ranks it only within the largest 300’’.

“Note that Grand Venture Technology, which is delisting, and Soon Hock Enterprises, which only listed on Oct 16, would also qualify but are omitted from the group of 22 stocks’’.

 

 

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