Brokers' take

DBS Group Holdings | Accumulate Target price: S$21.45 Sept 18 close: S$20.49 Phillip Securities Research, Sept 18

We had initially thought the positive sentiments and low volatility post-Trump election will be temporary but as it appears, a sustained synchronous global recovery is gaining momentum. Therefore, we could continue to see positive loan rate and volume dynamics in H2 2017 and early 2018 that will drive net interest income higher... Even though DBS has the highest loan-to-deposit ratio which gives it the least headroom to grow loans faster than deposits, DBS is our top pick because it has the highest Singapore current- and savings-account ratio to total deposits ratio of 91 per cent and the largest overall deposit base of S$342.9 billion. This means United Overseas Bank and OCBC Bank will not be able to lend as much cheap loans as DBS. We believe this is the competitive edge DBS has over its peers against large banks such as HSBC and Bank of China as they begin to compete for loans in Singapore.

SATS | Hold Target price: S$5.05 Sept 18 close: S$4.75 OCBC Investment Research, Sept 18