Trump’s Greenland threats had only temporary effect, banks drove STI to new high

Date: January 26, 2026

• UOB and OCBC at new record highs, STI also at new record
• Focus on Greenland
• On Wall Street, small caps are leading the way
• Yangzijiang Maritime to start share buybacks
• Raffles Education to seek shareholder nod for asset disposals
• Toku debuted on Catalist, closed at a 14% premium over IPO
• The Assembly Place debuted on Catalist, closed at a 26% premium over IPO
• Suntec REIT DPU for H2 up 23.2%
• SGX seeking feedback on board lot size reduction

 

UOB and OCBC at new record highs, STI also at new record

Markets were rattled early in the week when US President Donald Trump threatened force and tariffs in his bid to annex Greenland but later regained much lost ground when he softened his stance.

The Straits Times Index first lost about 40 points or 0.8% between Monday and Wednesday before surging on Thursday and Friday to close a net 42 points or 0.9% higher at a new all-time of 4,891.45. Average daily volume was S$1.7b versus S$1.5b the previous week.

As has now become the norm, banks led the way. UOB jumped S$2.76 or 7.5% to a new high of S$39.50, OCBC rose S$0.85 or 4.2% to a record high of S$21.29 whilst DBS fell S$0.47 or 0.8% to S$58.65.

On Friday the value of trading in the three banks amounted to S$839m or 42% of the whole market’s total of S$1.98b.

Focus on Greenland

After initially threatening the use of force to take control of Greenland, Trump later said he and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte “have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region.” He did not commit to the specifics of the deal, but in a separate interview with CNBC suggested that it would last “forever” and include mineral rights.

Earlier Trump had said he wanted immediate negotiations on Greenland, a place of strategic importance to the U.S. for security purposes. That came after Trump’s Saturday Truth Social post, where he threatened to impose a 10% tariff on goods sent to the U.S. from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, U.K., Netherlands, and Finland starting Feb 1.

For the week, the S&P 500 lost 0.4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.1%, and the blue-chip Dow fell 0.5%.

January 20^th marked the first full year that Trump has been in office. “The 13% gain for the S&P 500 over the past year was solid, but it didn’t stack up to the 24% gain after Trump’s first year in office in 2017,” wrote Bespoke Research.

“In fact, it was actually the smallest rally for the first year of an administration since the second Bush administration’’.

On Wall Street, small caps are leading the way

The Russell 2000, an index encapsulating stocks of 2000 small U.S. companies, hit a new high on Thursday. It has done better than the S&P 500 for 14 straight days, including today’s performance. The last time investors saw such a long winning streak was in May 1996.

“There is a clear shift in leadership underway, and while there will be pullbacks, we want to stick on the side of this new trend which is still in its early days, in our view,” writes Jonathan Krinsky, BTIG’s chief market technician.

Yangzijang Maritime to start share buybacks

Maritime financial solutions provider Yangzijiang Maritime said it is seeking to purchase not more than 10% of its total issued shares as at the date of shareholders’ approval.

The shares will be purchased at a price not more than 5% above average closing market prices, as defined by Singapore Exchange listing rules.

Executive chairman and chief executive of YZJ Maritime, Ren Yuanlin, said the company intends to focus on capital allocation, including through share buybacks, following its initial public offering last year.

“We believe that share buybacks are another good opportunity to reward long-term shareholders, support liquidity, and reinforce confidence in our strategy and value creation pathway,” he said, noting that the group has a “healthy cash position and strong balance sheet”.

Raffles Education to seek shareholder nod for asset disposals

Raffles Education is seeking shareholder approval for the disposals of its college asset in China for 426.4 million yuan (S$75.9 million) and a Merchant Road property for S$121.8 million.

Following the news, the company’s shares jumped S$0.032 or 21.3% to S$0.182 on Monday. They ended the week at S$0.169.

The mainboard-listed company noted that the sales constitute “major transactions” and are conditional upon shareholder approval.

Assuming the China sale was completed on Jun 30, 2025, Raffles Education’s net tangible asset per share would be S$0.3687 after the deal, down from S$0.3915 before the deal.

Assuming the transaction was completed on Jul 1, 2024, the group would record a loss per share of S$0.0183 post-sale, compared to an earnings per share of S$0.0055 pre-sale.

The proposed sale of the 51 Merchant Road property, known as Raffles Education Square, to a joint venture between Elevate Capital and LaSalle Investment Management was announced on Dec 1, 2025.

It is expected to yield a S$53 million gain on disposal alongside net proceeds of around S$121.3 million.

Toku debuted on Catalist, closed at a 14% premium over IPO

Customer experience platform Toku debuted on Catalist on Thursday, closing at S$0.285, a $0.035 or 14% premium over its S$0.25 offer price, with 30.7m shares traded. It finished the week at S$0.265.

Toku had offered 63 million placement shares and two million public offer shares, which gave it a market capitalisation of around S$142.6 million.

It raised total gross proceeds of about S$16.3 million, which will be used for expansion of its artificial intelligence-powered customer experience platform, tech development, and potential mergers and acquisitions as well as general working capital.

Toku offers AI-based cloud communications services to businesses, with a focus on Asia-Pacific, providing tools such as voice and messaging systems to support customer engagement.

The Assembly Place debuted on Catalist, closed at a 26% premium over IPO

Co-living operator The Assembly Place listed on Catalist on Friday, first trading as high as S$0.335 versus its offer price of S$0.23 before closing at S$0.29, a premium of S$0.06 or 26% on volume of 17.3m.

The offering comprised a public tranche of two million shares which was 35.5 times subscribed, drawing 1,125 valid applications for 71.1 million shares, alongside a placement tranche of around 48.3 million shares, which was 3.9 times subscribed.

Separate from the 50.3 million invitation shares, cornerstone investors entered into subscription agreements with The Assembly Place to subscribe for some 29.5 million new ordinary shares at the S$0.23 per share offer price.

Suntec REIT DPU for H2 up 23.2%

Suntec Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) recorded a distribution per unit (DPU) of S$0.0388 for the second half-year ended Dec 31, 2025. This was a 23.2% increase from the DPU of S$0.0315 for the corresponding period a year earlier.

Revenue edged up 0.2% to S$237.1 million for H2 FY2025 driven by higher revenue from its Singapore and London properties, which offset lower revenue from two assets in Australia.

Net property income (NPI) fell 1.5% year on year to S$157.3 million for the half-year whilst distributable income from operations increased 24.1% to S$114.5 million.

The distribution for the period from Oct 1, 2025, to Dec 31, 2025, will be paid on Feb 27, following books closure on Jan 30.

SGX seeking feedback on board lot size reduction

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) said that it is seeking feedback from the public on proposed changes to reduce the standard board lot size of certain instruments traded on the SGX.

The proposed changes are:

• A reduction in the standard board lot size from 100 units to 10 units, for instruments priced above S$10 and up to S$100.
• A reduction in the standard board lot size from 100 units to one unit, for instruments priced above S$100.

The reduction was supported by the Equities Market Review Group, which was set up to recommend ways to strengthen the development of Singapore’s stock market.