Singapore banks may serve up enough of a lukewarm gruel

NOT too hot, not too cold - and so it is when it comes to the Singapore banks, which may see a Goldilocks year amid current market uncertainty. For such uncertainty should tamp down both yield expansion and loan growth for banks, but can also raise interest in Singapore banks as a safe harbour in choppy waters.

The Fed-funds futures, used to imply the probability of the direction of rates, indicate a strong likelihood that interest rates would close off 2019 at their current target range of between 2.25 per cent and 2.5 per cent, data from CME Group showed.

The US Federal Reserve had in December said two rate hikes are expected in 2019, one less than the three hikes projected in September. And the Fed is listening carefully to market signals, chairman Jerome Powell said this month, adding that the central bank would be "patient" on rate hikes.