Wide range of STI forecasts reveals hazy outlook in 2019

After a 10% decline in 2018, analysts forecast index to end in 3,250-3,600 range in 2019, while a support level of 2,850 would throw up bargain buys

Published Tue, Jan 1, 2019 · 09:50 PM

Singapore Stocks

Singapore

THE cloud of uncertainty hanging over the outlook for 2019 has led analysts to offer a wide range of predictions for the performance of the Straits Times Index (STI) this year.

DBS Group Research, the most bearish among them, expects the index to retreat another 7 per cent to 2,850 - about 10.8 times FY19 earnings - before it recovers to 3,250. "This is on the premise that the current US-China trade hostilities do not degenerate further into an all-out trade war and the Fed hikes rates twice or three times in 2019," it says.