STI Adds 0.63% for the Week as Banks Lead and S-REITs Linger Near 52-Week Lows

Market overview and STI ETF performance

The Straits Times Index finished the trading week of 2026-09-21 to 2026-09-25 at 5,711.00, adding 28.00 points or 0.49% on the final session from a previous close of 5,683.00. Across the five sessions, the benchmark moved from 5,675.00 to 5,711.00, a gain of 0.63%, according to the data. The index now sits about 2.0% below its 52-week high of 5,828.00 and roughly 33.9% above its 52-week low of 4,265.00.

Breadth on the final day was positive but not overwhelming. Sixteen constituents advanced, ten declined and four were unchanged, and the average change across the 30 counters was just +0.06%. That gap between the index's +0.49% and the average constituent's +0.06% is one of the more telling figures in the week's dataset. It indicates that the headline gain was carried by a relatively small number of heavier-weighted names rather than by a broad-based advance, with banking and consumer counters doing much of the lifting while property and real estate counters drifted lower.

The SPDR STI ETF, the tracker fund that mirrors the index, was quoted at $5.80 against a previous close of $5.77, a move of about 0.5% that closely tracked the index's own daily gain. The ETF's 52-week range stands at $4.322 to $5.92, which places it roughly 2.0% below its 52-week high. Its behaviour over the week was therefore consistent with the underlying index: a modest advance, contained within a narrow band, with the fund still trading in the upper portion of its yearly range even as a large group of individual constituents sits close to the bottom of theirs.

Sector-by-sector analysis

The sector averages in the data show a clear split between defensive, income-oriented consumer names and financials on one side, and real estate on the other. Consumer Defensive led with an average daily change of +1.07% across three counters, followed by Communication Services at +0.71% from a single counter and Financial Services at +0.52% across four counters. Utilities added 0.34% from one counter, while Energy was flat at 0.00%.

The laggards were concentrated in property-related groupings. Real Estate, the largest sector block with 12 counters, averaged -0.28%. Industrials, with six counters, was essentially unchanged at -0.03%. Technology slipped 0.30% from a single counter, and Consumer Cyclical fell 0.81%, also from a single counter.

The banking block was the most visible source of index support. Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation was the single best performer on the final day, rising 1.33% to $32.01, and it closed about 1.72% below its 52-week high of $32.57. DBS Group Holdings closed at $78.00, about 1.33% below its own 52-week high of $79.05, and United Overseas Bank was among the five most heavily traded counters on the day. Turnover figures underscore how much of the market's activity passes through this group. DBS led with roughly S$244.7 million traded, OCBC followed at about S$169.9 million and UOB at about S$120.0 million, meaning the three banks alone accounted for close to S$534.6 million of the roughly S$659.9 million turned over across the five busiest counters.

The Straits Times reported on 20 September 2026 that the US Federal Reserve's rate increase on 16 September had offered a potentially more favourable earnings backdrop for Singapore banks by supporting local interest rates and slowing the compression in net interest margins. That article noted UOB shares rose after the hike, and it frames the banking sector's steady performance in the week under review.

Real estate was the week's weakest large grouping. Twelve counters averaged -0.28%, and nine property-related names appear within 5% of their 52-week lows. Frasers Centrepoint Trust closed at $2.05, exactly at its 52-week low, after falling 1.44% on the final day and 1.91% over the week. Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust slipped 1.14% on the day to $0.87, about 1.16% above its low of $0.86, and carries the highest dividend yield in the dataset at 6.78%. Mapletree Logistics Trust declined 0.90% to $1.10, about 0.92% above its low of $1.09, with a yield of 6.64%. Mapletree Industrial Trust recorded the largest weekly decline of any constituent, falling 2.62% from $1.91 to $1.86, and sits 0.54% above its low of $1.85 with a yield of 6.77%. Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust was the notable exception within its own peer group, rising 0.83% to $1.22 on the final day and ending about 3.39% above its 52-week low of $1.18, the widest such gap among the nine counters near their lows. CapitaLand Ascendas REIT at $2.28 and CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust at $2.24 both sit within roughly 1.4% of their respective lows, with yields of 6.58% and a market capitalisation of $17.7 billion for the latter.

Industrials were flat on average but produced the week's strongest single performer in Singapore Technologies Engineering, which climbed 4.62% across the five sessions from $10.39 to $10.87. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding closed at $5.19, about 4.07% below its 52-week high of $5.41, and carries the highest beta in the dataset at 0.89 alongside revenue growth of 36.2%. Yahoo Finance Singapore reported on 21 September 2026 that Singapore shares tracked regional gains to end higher as oil concerns eased, and noted that Yangzijiang Maritime Development rose nearly 3% after ordering 24 newbuild vessels from Chinese shipyards with deliveries scheduled between 2028 and later years.

Telecommunications was represented by a single Communication Services counter, which averaged +0.71%, the second-strongest sector reading of the week. Singapore Telecommunications recorded about S$73.9 million in turnover, the fourth-highest of any constituent. A Yahoo Finance Singapore headline reported that Keppel and StarHub are in ongoing discussions regarding a possible transaction in relation to M1. Keppel Ltd, an STI constituent, carries a market capitalisation of $20.3 billion, a beta of 0.52 and revenue growth of 24.6% in the data.

Top gainers and losers analysis

OCBC's 1.33% advance to $32.01 made it the strongest performer on the final trading day, and the move leaves it within 2% of its 52-week high. DFI Retail Group was next, gaining 1.23% to $3.30 and finishing the week up 2.48% from $3.22. That is a reversal of tone from the prior week, when The Business Times reported on 18 September 2026 that Singapore shares edged lower as DFI Retail slid and the STI declined 0.08%, with Hongkong Land leading the gainers that day. Thai Beverage followed with a 1.15% rise to $0.44, extending its weekly gain to 2.33%. It trades on a price-to-earnings multiple of 11.0 times, one of the five lowest in the dataset, with revenue growth of 17.2% and a market capitalisation of $11.1 billion. Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust added 0.83% and Wilmar International rose 0.82% to $3.68. Wilmar's price sits below its 50-day moving average of $3.80 but above its 200-day moving average, and its beta of 0.11 is the second-lowest in the dataset.

On the losing side, Frasers Centrepoint Trust's 1.44% decline to $2.05 placed it at the very bottom of its 52-week range, and it was the only constituent in the data to record volume above 1.5 times its average, at 2.1 times. Jardine Matheson Holdings fell 1.39% to $55.86 and ended the week down 2.56% from $57.33, leaving it about 0.56% above its 52-week low of $55.55. Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistics Trust and Genting Singapore completed the five weakest daily performances, falling 1.14%, 0.90% and 0.81% respectively. Genting Singapore's decline matched the entire Consumer Cyclical sector average of -0.81%, and the counter carries a dividend yield of 6.50%.

The weekly leaderboard adds useful context that a single day obscures. Beyond ST Engineering's 4.62% gain, DFI Retail added 2.48%, Seatrium rose 2.44% from $2.05 to $2.10, Thai Beverage gained 2.33% and City Developments rose 2.10% from $8.09 to $8.26. The latter carries a price-to-earnings multiple of 9.1 times and revenue growth of 61.1%, the highest figure of any constituent in the data. At the other end, Mapletree Industrial Trust's 2.62% weekly decline was the largest, followed by Jardine Matheson at -2.56%, Frasers Centrepoint Trust at -1.91%, Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust at -1.69% and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT at -1.30%.

Volume and momentum analysis

Trading activity was heavily concentrated. The five highest-turnover counters accounted for a combined S$659.9 million or so, and the top three were all banks. That pattern suggests institutional interest remained centred on the large, liquid financial names rather than on the broader market. Against that backdrop, the isolated volume spike in Frasers Centrepoint Trust stands out. A single counter trading at 2.1 times its average volume while sitting exactly at a 52-week low is an unusual combination and worth noting as a factual observation rather than a signal of anything to come.

Momentum readings within the data are mixed. Singapore Exchange traded at $22.40, below its 50-day moving average of $24.25 but above its 200-day moving average, as did Wilmar at $3.68 against a 50-day average of $3.80. Both readings describe a counter whose medium-term trend has softened while its longer-term trend remains intact, on the measured figures alone.

Impact of macroeconomic or geopolitical factors

Two external threads ran through the week. The first was the US rate path. The Straits Times reported that the Federal Reserve raised rates on 16 September 2026, a move it said supported local interest rates and slowed margin compression for Singapore banks. The Business Times separately reported on 24 September 2026 that US weekly jobless claims decreased as the labour market regained its footing, a data point that feeds directly into expectations about the future direction of US policy and, by extension, into the rate-sensitive segments of the Singapore market.

The second thread was trade policy. Singapore Business Review reported that Singapore has warned that escalating global trade tensions sparked by new US tariffs could trigger a global economic slowdown, noting that some countries had already announced retaliatory measures and that continued tit-for-tat action could escalate further. For an index with meaningful exposure to shipping, logistics, industrials and regional property, that kind of warning matters across several sectors at once, though the data does not attribute any specific price move to it. Yahoo Finance Singapore's report on 21 September 2026 linked the session's gains to regional strength and easing oil concerns, which is a reminder that the STI does not move in isolation from its regional peers.

What the data shows about stability and volatility

The data provides a set of measured characteristics rather than opinions. On market capitalisation, the range within the index is wide: DBS at $221.8 billion and OCBC at $143.9 billion sit at the top, while Sembcorp Industries at $10.5 billion, Thai Beverage at $11.1 billion and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT at $11.4 billion sit at the lower end of the large-cap group.

On beta, the spread runs from Sembcorp at 0.07, Wilmar at 0.11 and Singapore Technologies Engineering at 0.15, up to Keppel DC REIT at 0.84 and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding at 0.89. Beta describes how a counter has historically moved relative to the wider market, and the figures show a wide range of measured sensitivity within a single index. It is worth noting that a low beta does not always translate into a quiet week: Frasers Centrepoint Trust carries a beta of 0.35 yet finished the week at a 52-week low with the only volume spike in the dataset, while Jardine Matheson's beta of 0.43 accompanied a 2.56% weekly decline. Revenue growth, meanwhile, ranged from 6.2% for UOB and 6.8% for DBS through to 36.2% for Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and 61.1% for City Developments.

On valuation measures, the five lowest price-to-earnings multiples in the dataset were Hongkong Land at 8.1 times, City Developments at 9.1 times, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding at 10.8 times, Thai Beverage at 11.0 times and Keppel DC REIT at 11.2 times. The five highest dividend yields were Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust at 6.78%, Mapletree Industrial Trust at 6.77%, Mapletree Logistics Trust at 6.64%, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT at 6.58% and Genting Singapore at 6.50%. The overlap is notable: four of the five highest-yielding counters are real estate investment trusts, and the same REIT grouping dominates the list of counters trading close to their 52-week lows.

What to watch in the coming week

The next set of scheduled data points will matter for how the rate-sensitive parts of the index are read. The US weekly jobless claims series, which The Business Times reported on 24 September 2026, is released each week and feeds into the debate over the Fed's next move following its 16 September increase, as covered by The Straits Times. Any further communication from the Fed will be weighed against the banks' current standing near their 52-week highs.

On trade policy, the warning from Singapore that escalating tariffs could slow the global economy, as reported by Singapore Business Review, points to headline risk that could affect the industrials, shipping and logistics names in the index, including Yangzijiang Shipbuilding and Seatrium. Oil prices, cited in Yahoo Finance Singapore's 21 September market report, remain a variable for the energy-linked and transport-linked counters.

Within the market itself, the figures to compare against will be whether trading volume in the banks remains as concentrated as it was this week, whether Frasers Centrepoint Trust's elevated turnover persists, and whether the nine property counters sitting within 5% of their 52-week lows stay in that band or move away from it. The ongoing discussions between Keppel and StarHub regarding a possible transaction in relation to M1, reported by Yahoo Finance Singapore, is another item that may produce further announcements.

References

1. The Straits Times; UOB shares rise after Fed hikes rates; yen weakens against Singdollar: Markets this week; 20 Sep 2026

2. The Business Times; Singapore shares edge lower as DFI Retail slides; STI down 0.08%; 18 Sep 2026

3. Yahoo Finance Singapore; Singapore Shares Track Regional Gains to End Higher as Oil ...; 21 Sep 2026

4. The Business Times; US weekly jobless claims decrease as labour market regains footing; 24 Sep 2026

5. Singapore Business Review; Singapore warns of global trade war as US tariffs take effect

6. Yahoo Finance Singapore; Keppel and StarHub in 'ongoing discussions' regarding 'possible transaction' in relation to M1

Disclaimer

Not financial advice. The author is not licensed to provide investment advice in Singapore. This is general commentary and personal opinion based on publicly available information, and does not take account of your objectives, financial situation or needs. Figures are compiled from public sources and may be incomplete, delayed or wrong — verify against the company's own filings and SGX before relying on anything here. The author may hold positions in the securities mentioned. Do your own research, and consider speaking to a licensed financial adviser before making any investment decision.

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