A new all-time high above 5,200 after US-Iran peace deal

Date: June 22, 2026

• The STI closed at a new high of 5,212.84 on Thursday
• The gain for the week was 3.3% after news of US-Iran truce
• Oil prices fell but will face renewed pressure after Iran closed Hormuz on Saturday
• Wall Street recovered from US-Fed-triggered stumble
• CSE Global independent director quits after clashes with chairman Eugene Lai over board refresh
• Selling of CSE Global overdone: analysts
• SGX in play after solid May figures
• Analysts positive on Jardine Matheson after inaugural Investor Day
• Lum Chang Creations to place out shares ahead of transfer to mainboard

 

A new closing high above 5,200

The signing of a peace deal between the US and Iran and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz sent stocks surging last week, with the Straits Times Index hitting a new all-time closing high of 5,212.84 on Thursday.

It came under some pressure on Friday, most notably because of weakness in UOB, OCBC and SGX, but still managed to record a net gain of about 167 points or 3.3% at 5,192.70.

Average daily volume traded was S$2.27b versus S$2.2b the week before.

Oil prices dipped but scepticism remains as Iran closed Hormuz on Saturday

Oil prices fell nearly US$10 his week, translating to a weekly drop of about 10-13%.

West Texas Intermediate settled the week at roughly US$76.50, notching weekly losses of about 10%. Brent Crude finished the week near flat on Friday, but still logged steep weekly losses of over 13%, settling near the US$80 per barrel mark.

However, Iran’s decision to close the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday after Israel renewed attacks in Lebanon is expected to put oil markets on edge again.

Traffic had tentatively begun moving through the critical shipping lane this week, including three Saudi-flagged supertankers that together were carrying more than six million barrels of crude.

But after peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran in Switzerland were paused on Friday after an earlier round of Israeli strikes in Lebanon, Trading Economics—a financial analytics platform—reported that “shipping activity slowed” that morning, and no outbound vessels were seen leaving the Persian Gulf

“We are of the view that the reopening of the Strait will remain a challenging logistical process regardless of the start date,” RBC Capital’s Helima Croft wrote in a research note released late Monday.

“We think it will take months to reach anything close to February 27 levels (especially if the security environment remains unsettled) and that peak Hormuz flows may actually be in the rearview mirror,” she added.

Feb. 27 is the day before the U.S. launched attacks on Iran.

Wall Street recovered from US-Fed-triggered stumble

Stocks tumbled on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh foreshadowed big changes to how the central bank will operate. The Dow fell 507 points, or 1%. The S&P 500 was down 1.2%. The Nasdaq was down 1.3%.

Sevens Report Research’s Tom Essaye told US newspaper Barron’s the market reacted to the “litany of changes that Warsh is proposing” that could lead to uncertainty and less communication from the central bank.

“The Fed was not hawkish, nor was Warsh hawkish,” Essaye says. “What he said was that ‘I’m exploring changing everything. And for something that has been working really well for markets, that will cause some upset.”

Stocks traded sideways all day but really lost steam after Warsh wrapped up his press conference. Roughly half of the central bankers who filled out forecasts pencilled in higher interest rates through the end of the year, but Warsh downplayed the forecasts.

For the week, the Nasdaq Composite led the major indexes with a gain of 2.43%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.93% and the Dow Industrials added 0.71%.

CSE Global independent director quits after clashes with chairman Eugene Lai over board refresh

Technology systems integrator CSE Global disclosed the exchanges between board chairman Eugene Lai and former independent director Tan Chian Khong over corporate governance, board renewal and management oversight that led to Tan’s resignation on Jun 2.

The company, which has been on investors’ radars since a tie-up with Amazon late last year, traced the exchanges between the two men concerning the role of the company’s controlling shareholder, Heliconia Capital Management – where Lai also serves as chairman.

Tan stepped down from his positions as lead independent director, audit committee chairman and nominating committee chairman, citing a breakdown in trust and confidence.

In its response to Singapore Exchange queries, CSE said that the differences in views between the two board members originated from a telephone conversation on May 19 and continued through subsequent written correspondence over the following weeks.

Tan said that the chairman requested his resignation from the board and his committee roles during that initial call.

In a follow-up letter, Tan refused to step down, maintaining that he was elected by ordinary shareholders at the annual general meeting and was answerable to them. He added that the request to step aside early was a breach of good governance.

Lai, who is also a board member of Temasek’s 65 Equity Partners, provided a different account of the discussion. He said that he was sharing a view held by himself and Heliconia that the company required a board refresh.

Specifically, he noted that the company would benefit from a lead independent director with strong mergers and acquisitions experience to manage an upcoming workload.

“The board is of the view that there has, to date, been no significant differences of views with regard to working with controlling shareholders which have had a material adverse impact on the business and operations of the company,” said CSE Global.

Addressing the potential impact on operations, the company noted that the disagreements have not had a material adverse effect on its business, operations, or the ability of management personnel to perform their duties.

Selling of CSE Global overdone: analysts

In a Thursday note, RHB maintained its “buy” call and target price of S$1.94 for CSE Global.

Analyst Alfie Yeo said the clarifications submitted in response to queries from the Singapore Exchange on Tuesday should “stabilise CSE’s trading volatility”.

He added that the core growth narrative remains firmly intact, powered by an anticipated US$1.5 billion worth of data centre electrification orders from Amazon over the next five years.

RHB still views the stock a compelling value, trading at a forward price-to-earnings multiple of roughly 20 times against a projected 27% earnings compound annual growth rate from until 2028.

Echoing this sentiment, UOB Kay Hian (UOBKH) on Thursday separately kept a “buy” call and S$1.79 target price.

Analysts John Cheong and Tang Kai Jie said that the sell-down has overshot the company’s fundamentals, pointing out that first-quarter revenue for 2026 jumped 29% on year to S$265 million.

They also noted that CSE Global’s order intake for the quarter surged 75% to S$271 million, leaving the company with a “robust” S$716 million order book.

CSE Global’s shares rose S$0.09 or 6.3% to S$1.52 on volume of 28.2m on Friday.

SGX in play after solid May figures

In a research report last week Maybank said “SGX’s May equity market turnover shows an accelerating trend towards a higher baseline velocity. This should drive structurally higher SDAV in the medium term. Concurrently, derivatives are also posting strong growth’’.

“With geopolitical and macro-economic uncertainty unlikely to abate anytime soon, SGX positioning as a multi-asset risk management platform is a critical differentiator. Risks to earnings upgrades are on the upside going forward, in our view. We raise target price to S$25.25. Maintain BUY’’.

Over the week, SGX’s shares rose S$1.36 or 6% to S$23.94.

Analysts positive on Jardine Matheson after inaugural Investor Day

Analysts are generally upbeat about Jardine Matheson Holdings (JMH) following its inaugural Investor Day on 16 June.

The Hong Kong-based group announced various targets then, including dividend growth of at least 5% annually to 2030 and a US$500 million share buyback programme running to end-2027.

Led by recently appointed chief executive Lincoln Pan, the group also aims to deliver annual five-year total shareholder returns of at least 9 per cent through to 2030, and is committed to recycling at least US$4 billion in capital from its portfolio (excluding commitments from subsidiaries Hongkong Land and Astra).

It is also looking to build at least US$200 million in additional profit after tax and minority interests through inorganic acquisitions.

Analysts see the new long-term targets as conservative but “achievable minimum yardsticks” that reinforce the conglomerate’s strategic transformation story.

Macquarie maintained its “outperform” rating on the stock with an unchanged fair-value target of US$84.

DBS pointed to an even more bullish 12-month price of US$93. The lender added that, notwithstanding the absence of bottom-line compound annual growth rate (CAGR) targets from JMH, it remains positive on JMH’s transformation story.

It said that, ultimately, JMH is not an operational business but an asset manager. “We are not overly concerned by the lack of concrete earnings CAGR guidance, as management framed total shareholder returns as the more relevant KPI (key performance indicator) for a capital allocation-led investment company.”

Lum Chang Creations to place out shares ahead of transfer to mainboard

Lum Chang Creations is planning to launch a placement of up to 35 million shares at S$0.759 each to raise gross proceeds of up to about S$26.6 million.

The proposed exercise comprises up to 15 million new shares and up to 20 million existing vendor shares.

The move is aimed at increasing the company’s public float as it prepares to transfer its listing from Catalist to the mainboard.

Under SGX mainboard rules, mainboard-listed issuers must ensure that at least 25% of their total issued shares are held by the public (if market capitalisation is below S$300 million), alongside a minimum of 500 shareholders.

The placement price of S$0.759 a share represents a discount of about 9.9% to the volume-weighted average price of S$0.8426 for trades done on Jun 17, the last full market day prior to the execution of the placement agreement and a subsequent trading halt.