Market value of Singapore stocks plunges 6.1% in October despite banks’ rally

UNITED Overseas Bank (UOB)‘s higher quarterly earnings lifted not only its share price, but also that of its two local peers’. But while the banking trio provided some support to the Straits Times Index (STI), the market capitalisation of the benchmark as well as that of the broader market, were down by as much as 6.1 per cent in October.

Investors piled into the shares of UOB, DBS and OCBC , propelling the trio into becoming the top three gainers for the month, adding between S$1.4 billion and S$2.7 billion to their market values. UOB now has a value of S$46.8 billion in terms of share price, while that of OCBC stood at S$54.8 billion and DBS, S$88.3 billion. The banks are expected to remain beneficiaries of rising interest rates.

Phillip Securities Research’s senior research analyst Terence Chua said that UOB’s 34 per cent year-on-year increase in its net profit to S$1.4 billion for the third quarter to September in results released last Friday (Oct 28), bolstered the STI. Index heavyweights DBS and OCBC also rallied as investors anticipated better profits from them.