New all-time highs for STI – but this was before fresh US trade tariffs on China

Date: October 13, 2025

• The STI hit an all-time closing high of 4,456.3 on Tuesday
• DBS’s rise of 1.9% for the week helped the index gain 0.4%
• Wall St plunged on Friday after Trump imposed 100% tariffs on China
• Seatrium received termination of US$475m contract, stock plunged 6.6%
• Industrial property developer Soon Hock launched mainboard IPO
• Aspial and Koh family make privatization offer for AF Global at S$0.11 per share
• Cordlife said it can continue as a going concern at least for next 12 months
• Fullerton offers first retail fund under MAS’s EQDP
• SingPost is the market’s top shorted stock

A game of two halves – first up, then down

To borrow from football commentary, it was a story of two halves last week, with the Straits Times Index powering up to new highs on Monday and Tuesday, but then succumbing to weakness between Wednesday and Friday.

After reaching a new closing high of 4,456.30 on Tuesday, the index fell back to finish the week at 4,427.06, still a net gain of about 16 points or 0.4% for the five days.

Average daily volume traded was S$1.41b versus S$1.79b the week before.

Not surprisingly, DBS proved to be instrumental in the STI’s highs, the stock closing at its own record high of S$54.80 on Tuesday before ending Friday at S$53.85. For the week, DBS gained S$0.99 or 1.9%.

Wall Street was cruising – until Friday when new China tariffs emerged

President Donald Trump sent the stock market tumbling on Friday with renewed tariff threats against China.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 879 points, or 1.9% to 45,479.6. The S&P 500 dropped 2.7%. to 6,552.51 and the Nasdaq Composite sank 3.6% to 22,204.43.

The major U.S. indexes were initially cruising in Friday morning trading, but things turned south when the president threatened “a massive increase” of tariffs on Chinese goods in response to China’s plans to limit exports of rare earth minerals.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said: “Starting November 1st, 2025 (or sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China), the United States of America will impose a Tariff of 100 per cent on China, over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying’’.

“Just when you thought the markets would go into a quiet Friday with no economic numbers, all Heck broke out,” wrote Andrew Brenner, head of international fixed income at NatAlliance Securities.

Treasury bonds market finally acted like defensive assets in the wake of Trump’s announcement, but the U.S. dollar struggled. The yield on the 2-year Treasury note dropped to 3.52%, while the 10-year’s yield fell to 4.05%. Oil prices also fell sharply.

“The sharp negative market reaction today reflects how much good news was priced in before news on US-China trade and potentially higher tariffs hit,” wrote Citi strategist Scott Chronert. “To be fair, we (and markets we believe) suspected peak tariff and trade concerns were in the past’’.

For the week, the S&P 500 slid 2.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite retreated 2.5%. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average lost. 2.7%

Seatrium received termination of US$475m contract, stock plunged 6.6%

Seatrium on Friday announced that it had received a termination notice for a US$475 million contract inked with a Maersk Offshore Wind affiliate in 2022.

The contract was for the construction of a wind turbine installation vessel at the US offshore wind farm, Empire Wind 1. It is about 98.9% complete.

Shares of Seatrium plunged by as much as 7.8% to S$2.25 in the first 40 minutes of trading on Friday. They inched back up to S$2.28 at close – 6.6% or S$0.16 lower on heavy volume of 57.2m.

The marine engineering company said it is evaluating its legal and commercial options, including the possibility of legal proceedings for “wrongful termination”.

Industrial property developer Soon Hock launched mainboard IPO

Industrial property developer Soon Hock Enterprise launched its initial public offering (IPO) of 21.6 million shares at S$0.58 each for a mainboard listing.

The offering comprises an international placement tranche of 18.8 million shares and a public offering of 2.8 million shares in Singapore. Of the total, 16.6 million shares are offered by executive chairman Tan Yeow Khoon, who founded Cogent Holdings – a logistics company previously listed on the SGX.

Additionally, cornerstone investors have entered into separate agreements with the company to subscribe for 61.4 million new shares, valued at about S$35.6 million.

Cornerstone investors – typically large institutions that subscribe before an IPO opens to the public – include Amova Asset Management Asia, ICHAM Master Fund VCC, Maybank Securities and UOB Kay Hian.

Together with the cornerstone subscriptions, the total deal size amounts to about S$48.1 million.

Following the offering, Soon Hock will have a share capital of 310.6 million shares, giving the company an estimated market capitalisation of S$180.1 million.

The company expects to raise net proceeds of about S$34.6 million from the IPO offering and issuance of cornerstone shares, which will go into acquiring new land sites and buildings for development and redevelopment, as well as partly financing existing projects in its pipeline.

Trading is scheduled to commence on 16 Oct.

Aspial and Koh family make privatization offer for AF Global at S$0.11 per share

A consortium comprising jewellery retailer Aspial Corp and an entity linked to the Koh family behind it has launched a bid to privatise hospitality player AF Global.

Aspial and JK Global Investment – the Koh family-linked entity – are proposing to buy the remaining shares of mainboard-listed AF Global that they do not already control.

The acquisition will be made through AFG Investment, a special-purpose vehicle incorporated by the consortium, said Aspial.

AFG Investment, the offeror, is looking to acquire some 288.7 million shares or a 27.35% stake in AF Global for S$0.11 per share, or a total consideration of around S$31.8 million.

Aspial, whose business covers jewellery retail, pawnbroking and real estate, owns a 41.75% cent stake in AF Global, the subsidiaries of which own and operate hotels and serviced residences.

Another 30.91% of AF Global shares are held by Koh Wee Meng, the executive chairman of property developer Fragrance Group and brother of Koh Wee Seng, who also helms Aspial.

AF Global was incorporated and listed on the SGX mainboard in 1973. The proposed acquisition is conditional upon certain conditions, such as the approval of shareholders representing at least three-fourths of the value of scheme shares.

Cordlife said it can continue as a going concern at least for next 12 months

Embattled cord-blood bank Cordlife said that it will be able to continue as a going concern for at least the next year, should the potential suspension it faces take effect.

The company had conducted an assessment of its ability to continue as a going concern for the upcoming 12-month period ending Sep 30, 2026, after receiving a notice of intent for a one-year suspension of its cord-blood banking services from the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Sep 29, following the discovery of operational lapses.

On Monday Cordlife provided an update on the assessment, which had incorporated an analysis comprising multiple scenarios for possible outcomes and tolerance levels “in light of various key risks and uncertainties”.

“Taking into account the H1 2025 financial results and the cash flow forecasts, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the board is of the view that the company will be able to continue as a going concern for the period under review,” Cordlife said.

For its H1 2025 ended June, the company had cut its net loss to S$4.6m from S$12.4 million in the year-ago period. Its revenue for the half-year surged 108.8% to S$19.2 million amid the full resumption of its Singapore operations in January, after a suspension of close to nine months.

While Cordlife should be able to continue operations until Sep 30, 2026, the board cautioned that the future beyond that is not certain.

Fullerton offers first retail fund under MAS’s EQDP

Fullerton Fund Management announced the first retail fund under the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s S$5b Equity Market Development Programme (EQDP), which is the Fullerton Singapore Value-Up Fund that will invest exclusively in Singapore-listed securities, spanning large mid, and small-cap stocks, IPOs and secondary listings.

It is offered as a collective investment scheme to retail, accredited and institutional investors in Singapore and selected international markets.

SingPost is the market’s top shorted stock

The Business Times on Friday reported that based on data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, the short interest in Singapore Post (SingPost) shares has been surging since July, catapulting the counter to the top shorted stock on the Singapore Exchange with about 5% of its shares on loan as of 3 Oct.

Concerns emerged over its reduced operational scale and uncertain strategic direction, leading to short interest – defined as the percentage of outstanding shares on loan – building up from late July.

Analysts at S&P Global Market Intelligence noted that the short interest in SingPost started taking off from under 1% on Jul 25; since then, there has been a sharp upward trajectory to being the most shorted stock in Singapore now.

The financial information service provider added: “It appears that Singapore Post’s sharp share price drop in late July reflected concerns over its reduced operational scale and uncertain strategic direction. It also had an impact on the short interest displayed in the company, as the percentage of shares on loan started to increase dramatically after this’’.

S&P Global Ratings on Jul 25 downgraded its long-term issuer credit rating on SingPost to “BBB-” from “BBB”, as the group has scaled down with the sale of its Australian logistics and freight forwarding businesses, and its core business continues to face subdued operating conditions.

The national postal service provider has been facing challenges operating a postal business that is on a secular decline and an e-commerce logistics business that is in a highly competitive landscape.