STI tops 5,000 in post-holiday rally, but volatility looms

SINGAPORE – The Singapore stock market rallied after a two-day Chinese New Year break on Feb 17 and 18, with the Straits Times Index (STI) opening above 4,986 points when trading resumed on Feb 19. This was up from about 4,938 before the holiday. The index extended gains to close above 5,017 on Feb 20.

DBS Bank and OCBC Bank were among the biggest contributors to the rally. DBS ended the week just shy of $58, up from $56.92 before the break. Singapore’s largest bank had touched a record high of $59.79 in January. OCBC rose from $21.11 before the holiday to close the week at $21.72.

Other major movers on the index included Singtel, which climbed from $4.85 at the close of Feb 16 to a record high of $5.09 on Feb 20, before ending the week at $5.04.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding advanced from $3.47 before the break to $3.73 by Feb 20, while Genting Singapore finished the week at 81 cents, a one-year high.

The rally was not confined to blue-chip counters, with trading momentum spilling over into the broader market.

Australia-based engineering company Civmec closed Feb 20 at a record high of $1.49, up by more than 10 per cent through the week.

Instant coffee maker Food Empire also jumped, closing the week at $3.23, up by more than 9 per cent over the same period.

CGS International analyst William Tng on Feb 20 raised his target price for Food Empire to $4 after the stock surpassed his previous target of $3.18, noting that its valuations still appear cheap at current levels.

Other mid-cap stocks, including China Aviation Oil, systems integrator CSE Global and property agency PropNex were also keenly traded.

Vicom, SIA Engineering announce results

Shares of Vicom rose after the vehicle inspection company announced a strong set of results on Feb 20.

It reported a 77.6 per cent jump in year-on-year net profit to $26.9 million for the half-year ended Dec 31, 2025, on the back of revenue rising 54.4 per cent to $97.6 million for the same period.

As a result, it proposed a final dividend of 5.3 cents a share, taking total dividends for financial year (FY) 2025 to 8.4 cents, representing a payout ratio of 70 per cent.

Vicom said in a bourse filing that it installed more than 251,000 on-board units (OBUs) as an authorised partner of the Land Transport Authority’s Electronic Road Pricing 2.0 migration exercise, the most among four such partners.

The company added that it now commands a 72.3 per cent market share in its vehicle inspection business.

However, demand for vehicle testing and related work will most likely taper off in 2026, following substantial completion of OBU installations in 2025, it said.

Vicom, a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro, expects its non-vehicle testing business to pick up the slack. Besides vehicles, it also provides inspection and testing services in fields including mechanical, biochemical and civil engineering.

Vicom’s shares closed at $1.72 on Feb 20, up around 2.4 per cent over the week.

SIA Engineering rose ahead of its third-quarter results on Feb 19. The aircraft maintenance provider commenced trading at $3.58 on Feb 20 before sliding to close at $3.50.

The company reported a net profit of $41.9 million for the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2025, up 9.7 per cent from a year ago. Revenue for the quarter rose 8.7 per cent to $353.1 million over the same period.

In its business update, it disclosed that it handled 3 per cent more flights in Singapore compared with the same period a year earlier. It added that it has begun providing routine maintenance services in Manila since Jan 1, expanding its network to 39 airports across nine countries.

In Malaysia, its base maintenance unit secured regulatory approval for the first of two hangars. The second hangar is expected to be ready in the second half of FY2026/2027.

OCBC analyst Ada Lim upgraded her recommendation on the stock to “buy”, with a target price as high as $4.05 following the results.

“We think SIA Engineering is well poised to capture robust aircraft maintenance repair and overhaul services demand, given its investments into capacity expansion and capability development,” she noted in a Feb 20 report.

Other market movers

Gold prices, which had fallen below US$4,900 an ounce on Feb 17, rose after US President Donald Trump warned on Feb 19 that Iran has 15 days at most to reach a deal on its nuclear programme, or “really bad things” will happen. This drew a threat from Tehran to retaliate against US bases in the region if attacked.

The US has already assembled an array of forces in the Middle East. 

Gold was trading past US$5,100 an ounce by Feb 22.

US stocks fell after data showing the world’s largest economy grew at a weaker-than-anticipated pace was released on Feb 20.

Inflation-adjusted gross domestic product increased by an annualised 1.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2025, after rising 4.4 per cent in the third quarter. Overall, the US economy expanded 2.2 per cent in 2025, data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed. Analysts had expected to see something closer to 3 per cent.

What to look out for next week

The Singapore stock market escaped a bout of post-close volatility on Feb 20. However, it may see renewed turbulence in the week ahead, after

Mr Trump imposed a 15 per cent global tariff

on imports into the US, announced on social media platform Truth Social on Feb 21.

He had earlier announced a 10 per cent global levy under a separate legal provision after a 6-3

Supreme Court ruling on Feb 20 rejected his authority

to impose tariffs under a 1977 economic emergency powers law.

This comes as earnings season continues in Singapore after the holiday break. Genting Singapore and UOB are set to report FY2025 results on Feb 24; OCBC, Sembcorp Industries and Food Empire on Feb 25; Seatrium and CNMC Goldmine on Feb 26; and City Developments and ST Engineering on Feb 27.