DBS and OCBC power the STI to a 1.2% gain just below 5,700

Date: August 11, 2026

• The STI surged 1.2% to 5,698.43, driven by record highs for DBS and OCBC
• US indices rise to all-time highs
• DBS 2Q net profit up 9% to S$3.08b; S$0.81 dividend declared
• UOB’s 2Q net profit up 10% to S$1.48b; S$0.88 interim dividend declared
• OCBC’s 2Q net profit up 10% to S$2.22b, S$0.47 interim dividend declared
• Keppel hits 2026 asset-sale target early with US$270 million Vietnam divestment
• All-Link Air & Sea closed its debut only S$0.05 above its S$0.53 offer price
• July’s market leadership swung from semiconductors to banks, REITs: SGX Research
• Institutions net sold S$464m in July, SIA led institutional inflows: SGX Research
• Share buyback activity accelerated in first seven months to S$1.9b led by Singtel: SGX Research

 

Banks reported their 2Q earnings, DBS and OCBC jump to record highs

The Straits Times Index rose about 70 points or 1.2% over the week to 5,698.43, driven mainly by DBS and OCBC, both of which closed at new all-time highs.

Most of the index’s gain came on Thursday and Friday after falls from Monday to Wednesday. On Thursday when the index rose almost 58 points, the entire market recorded only 239 rises versus 338 falls so gains were not that broad-based.

 

US indices rise to all-time highs

Wall Street finished the week higher, with both the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average and the benchmark S&P 500 hitting fresh all-time highs as investors digested key earnings from SpaceX and Palantir Technologies alongside the latest payrolls data.

Shares of SpaceX jumped over 20% on the week after the newly public company Q2 earnings per share of -S$0.09, beating estimates by $0.20. Moreover, revenue came in at US$7.8B, up 90.2% year-over-year and ahead of expectations by US$980M.

Elsewhere in earnings, Palantir Technologies surged roughly 38% this week after the software giant reported second-quarter results that surpassed Wall Street’s forecast and raised its full-year forecast.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls declined by 23,000 in July, missing the 88,000 consensus and erasing the 20,000 increase in June, according to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.

For the week, the S&P 500 added 3.6%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 5.2%, and the blue-chip Dow advanced 3.0%.

 

DBS reported 9% rise in 2Q profit to S$3.08b, S$0.81 dividend declared

DBS Group has declared S$0.81 in dividends per share for the second quarter of 2026, as its net profit for the period grew 9%  on record wealth management income to a record S$3.08 billion, beating a S$2.87 billion forecast by analysts in a Bloomberg poll.

The latest dividend payout comprises an ordinary dividend of S$0.66 and a capital return dividend of S$0.15. The payout is expected to cost the bank – South-east Asia’s largest by assets – about $2.3 billion.

This takes the first-half dividend to $1.62, including the first quarter’s payout of S$0.61.

Group net interest income for the quarter declined 2% to $3.58 billion from lower interest rates, with strong loan and deposit growth as well as proactive hedging mitigating most of the impact.

Overall, group net interest margin (NIM) fell to 1.87% for the quarter, from 2.05% in the year-ago period.

Commercial book net interest income in the quarter fell 4% to $3.48 billion due to lower net interest margins. Commercial book net fee income grew 25% to $1.46 billion, led by stronger wealth management.

Commercial book other non-interest income increased 30% to $681 million, driven by treasury customer sales to both wealth management and corporate customers.

Maybank said despite significant external uncertainty, DBS continues to deliver, leveraging multiple growth engines.

“Strong integration across wealth, corporate banking, SME and trading has allowed synergy unlocking. AI has become a key enabler, giving deep integration across products, people and processes’’.

“We believe this gives strong visibility to delivering >17% ROE (Return On Equity) in the medium term, justifying a premium valuation. Raise target price to S$85.86. Maintain BUY’’ said the broker.

Over the five days, DBS’s shares gained S$1.25 or 1.7% to a new closing high of S$76.33.

 

UOB’s 2Q profit up 10% to S$1.48b; S$0.88 interim dividend declared

UOB posted a 10% rise in second-quarter net profit to S$1.48b as net fee income increased, led by record wealth management fees. This beat analysts’ expectations of S$1.45 billion in a Bloomberg poll.

The board declared an interim dividend of S$0.88 per share for the half-year, up from S$0.85 a year ago and representing a payout ratio of approximately 50%.

Net interest income for the quarter fell 2% to S$2.3 billion on lower interest rates, with net interest margin narrowing to 1.74% from 1.91% a year ago.

Net fee income rose 5% to $665 million, supported by strong growth in wealth and fund management activities, while other non-interest income jumped 28% to S$632 million.

Over the five days, UOB’s shares fell S$0.10 to S$43.30.

 

OCBC’s 2Q net profit up 10% to S$2.22b, S$0.47 interim dividend declared

OCBC Bank’s net profit for the second quarter of 2026 grew 22% to S$2.22b as strong non-interest income led by wealth management cushioned the impact of lower interest rates. This beat analysts’ forecast of S$1.91b in a Bloomberg poll.

The bank declared an interim dividend of S$0.47 per share for the first half of 2026, up from S$0.41 a year ago.

Second-quarter net interest income declined 1% to $2.26 billion amid a lower interest rate environment. Net interest margin fell to 1.7%, 22 basis points below the 1.92% a year ago, but the impact was partly cushioned by a 12% growth in average assets.

Over the week, OCBC’s shares rose S$1.17 or 4% to a new record close of S$30.30.

 

Keppel hits 2026 asset-sale target early with US$270 million Vietnam divestment

Keppel announced that it has successfully hit its annual asset-monetisation target ahead of schedule, cementing its ongoing transition towards an asset-light global manager model.

The asset manager and operator has hit S$2.1 billion in year-to-date monetisations, with the figure within Keppel’s target of S$2 billion to S$3 billion for 2026.

The milestone was officially achieved following a conditional agreement to offload its 40% equity interest in Empire City, a waterfront and mixed-use development in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The transaction will yield an aggregate cash consideration of about US$270 million or around S$343 million. The deal is slated for completion by the fourth quarter of 2026.

With its 2026 target secured, Keppel said its focus is shifting towards its longer-term runway. The firm still holds a S$13.7 billion non-core portfolio, based on gross asset values reported at the end of June 2026, which it plans to realise by the end of 2030.

 

All-Link Air & Sea closed its debut only S$0.05 above its S$0.53 offer price

Shares of logistics solutions provider All-Link Air & Sea closed at S$0.535 on Wednesday on the mainboard, only S$0.05 or 0.9% above their initial public offering price of S$0.53.

The counter debuted at S$0.53 and saw 14.3 million shares change hands by the end of the day.

This marks Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) ninth listing and seventh mainboard debut this year.

The debut followed the close of its offer on Monday when its public tranche of 2.1 million shares were around 4.85 times subscribed. The group had offered a total of 37.9 million shares, comprising the 2.1 million public offer shares and 35.8 million placement shares.

Meanwhile, about 44.3 million placement shares received indications of interest, resulting in the placement being around 1.24 times subscribed.

Based on valid applications received for the public offer shares and the aggregate indications of interest received for the placement shares, the offering was about 1.44 times subscribed.

The stock ended the week at S$0.53.

 

July’s market leadership swung from semiconductors to banks, REITs: SGX Research

In a 3 Aug Market Update, SGX Research reported that July’s market leadership differed markedly from 1H26 as semiconductor-related stocks that had generated some of the strongest gains in the first half of the year experienced profit-taking, while banks, REITs, property and transport-related stocks emerged among the month’s leading performers.

“Unlike several North Asian markets, Singapore benefited from its heavier weighting in financial, industrial and transport-related stocks, helping local benchmarks outperform despite profit-taking in semiconductor-related names’’ said SGX Research.

It added that the Straits Times Index’s 8.8% advance in July marked its strongest monthly performance since November 2020, with the FTSE ST All-Share Index and FTSE ST Financials Index also posting their strongest monthly gains since November 2020.

“The July gains brought the annualised total return of STI ETFs since the end of 2019 to 13.1%, while monthly STI ETF dollar-cost averaging generated an indicative CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 10.7% over the period’’ said SGX Research.

 

Institutions net sold S$464m in July, SIA led institutional inflows: SGX Research

Institutions net sold S$464 million in July, increasing cumulative year-to-date net institutional outflow to S$1,287 million at end-July, reported SGX Research.

“Singapore Airlines led net institutional inflow again in July, coinciding with its consensus target price increasing from S$6.77 to S$7.21 as analysts raised earnings forecasts. In contrast, Sembcorp Industries led net institutional outflow in July, coinciding with its consensus target price easing from S$7.06 to S$6.71 as analysts lowered earnings forecasts ahead of its 13 August results announcement’’.

 

Share buyback activity accelerated in first seven months to S$1.9b led by Singtel: SGX Research

Buyback activity accelerated in the first seven months of 2026 (7M26), with 70+ primary-listed companies repurchasing S$1.9 billion of shares, according to SGX Research in a separate 3 Aug Market Update.

“Singtel has led the buyback consideration tally over the past seven months and maintains that full execution of the S$2B buyback, on a pro-forma basis, using FY26 underlying net profit, would lead to a permanent 3% accretion in underlying earnings per share and puts Singtel on a higher EPS and DPS trajectory’’ reported SGX Research.

“Ten primary-listed companies recorded their first buyback activity of 2026 in July, led by Geo Energy, Raffles Medical and Addvalue Technologies. Geo Energy recorded the largest July buyback consideration among the 10 companies and cited an undervalued share price and long-term growth prospects when announcing its buyback programme’’.