Hot stocks: Banks slide after OCBC's Q4 results disappoint

THE share prices of the three local banks - DBS, United Overseas Bank (UOB) and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) - fell on Tuesday morning after the latter posted weaker than expected results for the fourth quarter of last year.

After opening at S$18.72 a share, DBS fell to S$18.51 before hovering around S$18.56, down 35 Singapore cents, or 1.85 per cent, at 09:31am.

UOB hit S$20.86 a share and was trading around S$20.95, down 12 Singapore cents, or 0.57 per cent. OCBC fell to S$9.44 a share, but recovered a bit to trade around S$9.53, down 22 Singapore cents, or 2.26 per cent.

Early Tuesday, OCBC was the first of the three local bank to post its results for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 216. It reported disappointing quarterly profit as provisions for bad loans surged and interest income fell. Net income fell 18 percent compared to a year ago to S$789 million. Analysts polled by Bloomberg were expecting an average of S$864 million. Net allowances for loans and other assets jumped 57 percent to S$305 million.

DBS is scheduled to report its earnings on Feb 16, followed by UOB the following day.