SINGAPORE — Singapore equities opened the holiday-shortened week on a stronger footing on Monday (Dec 22), with the Straits Times Index (STI) pushing into fresh record territory as a tech-led rebound in global markets improved risk appetite and drew fresh bids into Asian equities. [1]
The move higher comes as investors weigh a familiar year-end mix: thinner liquidity, big cross-asset swings (notably in FX and precious metals), and a growing debate over whether optimism has run ahead of fundamentals after a powerful 2025 run for stocks. [2]
Singapore market snapshot: STI up around 0.7% and flirting with new highs
The STI was last indicated around 4,601, up roughly 0.7% on the day in the latest available readings, extending a rally that has pushed Singapore’s benchmark to repeated peaks into late 2025. [3]
In broader regional context, Reuters reported Singapore’s main index climbed about 1% to a record top during Monday’s Asia session, tracking gains across Asia-Pacific equities as investors leaned back into “risk-on” positioning. [4]
What’s notable about today’s tape: the headline index strength is landing at the same time investors are digesting index-related changes effective today (more on that below), plus an active local corporate news flow spanning offshore & marine, a gold miner, and corporate governance questions. [5]
What’s driving Singapore shares today
1) Global tech rebound lifts Asia — and Singapore rides the wave
Asian equities broadly advanced after Wall Street logged tech-driven gains, helped by renewed appetite for AI-linked names and easing worries about near-term AI spending payback. [6]
That global lift matters for Singapore in two ways:
- It supports sentiment in a market that has increasingly attracted “quality yield + stability” allocators.
- It keeps the regional cycle constructive for trade, logistics, and industrial names—sectors that tend to show up prominently in STI heavyweight exposure and “Singapore Inc.” earnings narratives. [7]
2) Cross-asset signals: yen volatility, record metals, and firmer oil
Macro cross-currents stayed intense:
- Reuters highlighted pressure on Japan’s yen after the Bank of Japan raised rates to 0.75% (a 30-year high) and signalled further tightening risk, keeping FX markets on intervention watch. [8]
- Precious metals remained a major global story, with Reuters noting silver at fresh peaks and gold rising sharply in the latest session. [9]
- Oil prices firmed after the US intercepted a Venezuelan oil tanker, adding a geopolitical supply angle even in what some analysts described as a “bearish” fundamental backdrop. [10]
Singapore does not trade like a pure commodities market, but these moves still ripple through:
- inflation/rates expectations (which can influence REITs and high-dividend sectors),
- risk premiums and shipping/offshore activity,
- and sentiment around cyclical versus defensive positioning. [11]
3) A warning sign: “extreme bullish” sentiment metrics
Even as markets climbed, Reuters reported Bank of America strategists flagged their investor-sentiment gauge moving into extreme bullish territory, historically a level that has often preceded pullbacks over subsequent months. [12]
For Singapore, this matters because the STI’s late-2025 strength has been powered not only by earnings, but also by re-rating and flows—conditions that can become more sensitive to sudden risk-off shocks when positioning is crowded.
Index event today: FTSE Russell review changes take effect (and why investors care)
A key structural marker on the calendar: FTSE Russell’s December 2025 quarterly review takes effect at the start of business on Dec 22, 2025. [13]
The headline outcome was no change to STI constituents, but there were updates to the STI reserve list:
- Entering: CapitaLand Ascott Trust, Sheng Siong Group
- Exiting: Olam Group, Yangzijiang Financial Holding
- The reserve list shown includes CapitaLand Ascott Trust, Keppel REIT, NetLink NBN Trust, Sheng Siong Group, and Suntec REIT. [14]
Why this can matter on a day like today:
- Even without constituent changes, reserve-list updates can influence investor attention and research coverage.
- More importantly, “review effective” dates often coincide with rebalancing activity around index-linked products—sometimes amplifying volume, especially in a market where policymakers and market operators have been focused on lifting liquidity. [15]
Singapore stocks in focus today: Seatrium, CNMC Goldmine, Singapore Paincare, ValueMax
Below are the Singapore corporate stories most likely to show up on traders’ screens today, based on the latest newsflow.
Seatrium: US$360 million payment agreement, delivery timeline set for Feb 2026
Seatrium said it reached an agreement with Maersk Offshore Wind’s affiliate Phoenix II for the buyer to pay the balance of the contract price valued at about US$360 million upon delivery of a wind turbine installation vessel, with delivery targeted by Feb 28, 2026. [16]
In a follow-up report, The Business Times noted commentary that the resolution helps remove legal overhang, with a Citi analyst describing the outcome as viewed “positively” by the market and pointing to a target price cited at S$2.65 (as reported). [17]
Market takeaway: In a year where Singapore investors have increasingly rewarded clarity and cashflow visibility, a dispute resolution + defined delivery timeline can matter as much as the headline contract value.
CNMC Goldmine: shares slide after Malaysia tax and penalty notice
Catalist-listed CNMC Goldmine drew early attention after The Business Times reported its shares fell as much as 7.3% after its Malaysian unit received additional income tax assessments and a penalty totalling RM29.6 million (about S$9.4 million) for years of assessment 2019 to 2024. [18]
CNMC said it “strongly disagrees” and plans to appeal, adding it does not expect a material adverse impact on going concern or operational viability (as reported). [19]
Context that complicates the CNMC story today: precious metals have been in a global spotlight with gold and silver hitting fresh highs in broader markets, typically a sentiment tailwind for gold-related names—yet single-stock regulatory or tax headlines can overwhelm macro support in the short run. [20]
Singapore Paincare: SIAS calls for more clarity after collapsed privatisation bid
The Securities Investors Association (Singapore) urged Singapore Paincare’s board to provide greater clarity and transparency following the collapse of a privatisation bid, pointing to issues around confirmation of financial resources (as reported). [21]
Why it matters: In a market where policymakers and institutions have been pushing governance and “value unlock” narratives, retail-facing situations like this can influence broader sentiment toward smaller caps, not just the individual counter. [22]
ValueMax: defending LV infringement claims
Separately, ValueMax said it will defend claims brought by Louis Vuitton, and commented (as reported) that it does not currently carry LV products in its pawnshops. [23]
While not an STI bellwether, legal headlines like these are often monitored for reputational and operational risk implications.
Forecasts and outlook: where strategists see Singapore equities heading into 2026
With the calendar nearing year-end, much of today’s Singapore market conversation is shifting from “what moved today” to “what still works next year.” Three themes stand out in the latest published outlooks.
1) DBS: STI end-2026 target 4,880; yields remain a pillar
In its “Singapore Market Focus (2026 Outlook and Strategy)” report dated Dec 11, DBS set an STI end-2026 target of 4,880, anchored to a view of FY26F earnings growth of 8.8% and an FY26F dividend yield of about 4.5% that should continue to attract investors. [24]
DBS framed 2026 as a year of more moderate gains after a strong 2025 re-rating, balancing positives—market support measures, Singapore’s safe-haven status, attractive yields—against uncertainties including slower GDP growth, tariff risks, the US rate outlook, and potential volatility in US equities. [25]
DBS also highlighted earnings support from banks, Singtel, SGX, UOL and industrial heavyweights such as ST Engineering, Seatrium and SATS, while flagging caution on selected names (as stated in the report). [26]
2) JPMorgan: “long way to go” for the rally; seven Singapore top picks
JPMorgan’s regional outlook (as reported by The Business Times) argued Asean equities could be at an inflexion point in 2026, and said Singapore’s equities rally has a “long way to go.” [27]
Two Singapore-specific points from the report stood out:
- Global funds remain under-positioned, and a S$70 billion cash pile could rotate from deposits into equities (as reported). [28]
- Policy measures—such as the S$5 billion Equity Market Development Programme and an SGX-Nasdaq dual-listing bridge—could support improved market returns on equity (as reported). [29]
JPMorgan’s seven Singapore picks for 2026 (as listed in the report) were: DBS, Keppel, City Developments, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust, ST Engineering, Sea and Singtel. It listed UOB and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding as least preferred (as reported). [30]
3) OCBC: overweight Singapore equities; “still not expensive”
In an OCBC Investment Research note published in December 2025, OCBC said it has an overweight call on the Singapore stock market and views it as still not expensive based on STI price-to-earnings, despite strong 2025 performance. [31]
OCBC also pointed to improved trading activity and highlighted the role of government initiatives under the EQDP framework, alongside supportive domestic rates and dividend yields as key pillars behind renewed market interest. [32]
4) The broader Asia overlay: Schroders sees AI + liquidity as 2026 catalysts
Zooming out, Schroders’ Asia Multi-Asset outlook (reported by The Business Times today) said Asia is entering a potentially favourable cycle and could benefit from a deepening AI boom and a significantly improved liquidity environment in 2026, while also noting US fiscal and geopolitical headwinds that helped drive capital toward the East in 2025. [33]
For Singapore investors, the practical implication is that “Asia beta” may stay constructive—but stock selection and valuation discipline may matter more if global sentiment is already stretched.
Risks and watchpoints for the rest of the week
Even with the STI at record levels, the next few sessions could remain headline-driven:
- Holiday-thinned liquidity: Reuters flagged a holiday-shortened week for much of the world, which can amplify moves on relatively modest flows. [34]
- FX volatility from Japan: the yen’s weakness and intervention risk remains a live macro factor after the BOJ’s rate move. [35]
- Commodities shock risk: oil is reacting to geopolitics around Venezuelan shipments; precious metals are already at extreme performance levels this year. [36]
- Positioning risk: “extreme bullish” sentiment indicators can increase the probability of abrupt pullbacks even in a fundamentally supportive environment. [37]
- Company-specific event risk: single-stock catalysts (tax disputes, legal claims, corporate actions) remain a key driver in Singapore where mid- and small-cap stories can dominate day-to-day trading attention. [38]
Bottom line: Singapore’s record run continues — but the market is entering a more selective phase
Singapore’s stock market is ending 2025 with momentum: the STI is again testing record highs, supported by global risk-on flows and a local narrative anchored on yields, financial strength, and ongoing market-development reforms. [39]
Yet, as major strategists shift attention to 2026 targets and catalysts—from DBS’s 4,880 end-2026 call to JPMorgan’s “under-positioned” flow thesis—today’s action also reflects a market where optimism is high, positioning is crowded in parts of global equities, and company-specific execution is likely to matter more than ever. [40]
References
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