Singapore banks finish lower; STI down 0.4%
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Across the broader market, gainers edged out losers 317 to 296, after 1.6 billion securities worth $2.5 billion changed hands.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Benicia Tan
SINGAPORE - Shares on the Singapore bourse slipped on Feb 24, as the three local banks all finished the trading day lower.
The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) lost 0.4 per cent or 20.54 points to finish at 5,020.79. Meanwhile, the iEdge Singapore Next 50 Index gained 0.4 per cent or 6.48 points to 1,526.98.
Across the broader market, gainers edged out losers 317 to 296, after 1.6 billion securities worth $2.5 billion changed hands.
UOB led losses among STI constituents, falling 4.1 per cent to close at $37.20. The counter was trading on a cum-dividend basis.
Shares of UOB hit a one-month low in early trade on Feb 24 after the bank posted a 7 per cent decline in fourth-quarter profit. The lender’s net profit for the quarter ended Dec 31 fell to $1.41 billion amid margin pressures from lower benchmark rates, missing the $1.44 billion consensus estimate of a Bloomberg poll.
UOB also cut its 2026 fee income growth outlook to high single digits, from an earlier high single- to double-digit target, citing more conservative loan growth targets and macroeconomic uncertainty.
The other local banks also slipped. DBS lost 0.5 per cent to finish at $57.86, while OCBC declined 1.2 per cent to finish at $21.43.
Meanwhile, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding led the gainers on Singapore’s blue-chip index, rising 2.6 per cent to end at $3.96.
Key regional indices were mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 1.8 per cent and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI declined 0.2 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.9 per cent, while South Korea’s Kospi was up 2.1 per cent.
Mr Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Markets, noted that globally, since US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff salvo THE BUSINESS TIMES
