00:00Singapore stocks have outperformed the world over the past month.
00:03Their traditional strengths of high dividend yields and resilient balance sheets
00:07have had a lift from what J.P. Morgan describes as a Goldilocks economic backdrop.
00:13For more, let's bring in our Asia Aquities reporter Bernadette Toew and Ban.
00:17I mean, this is unheard of. We're boring, we're stable, but now we're partying.
00:22Yes, we are. Singapore's had a really good year.
00:25It's been having a really good time. It's been really resilient amongst the global volatility in the market.
00:32So it's been a fan favourite amongst a lot of investors.
00:35A lot has to do with what you talked about, stability in the different factors, including the SING dollar as
00:40well, right?
00:41Yes, so there are lots of positives going on for Singapore stocks.
00:45One is the high dividend yields, which you have mentioned, and also the strong Singapore dollar,
00:50which is definitely really appealing to investors.
00:53But what's also new this time around for Singapore stocks is that there is also capital appreciation.
00:59There is a growth story that's led by moderated inflation and also just good corporate earnings because of the tech
01:06exports.
01:06So that with the dividend play and the growth story is just making Singapore stocks really, really attractive.
01:13You talked about good corporate earnings. We're seeing that a lot for the banks in particular.
01:17Not surprising they're leading the pack up.
01:19The question really is whether there's more gains to be had.
01:23If you take a look at DBS, already at 75 to 80 bucks right now per piece.
01:28And people are looking at perhaps even $100 for the stock.
01:31So you've got to question whether it's stretch valuations or whether there's more upside from here.
01:36Valuations are definitely higher than they have been historically.
01:39But at the same time, there's a lot going on for Singapore banks.
01:45It's part of this booming wealth management industry in Singapore.
01:50And that's what's driving the Singapore banking stocks to rally really hard.
01:54So apart from the banks, anything else that's doing well?
01:57There is a lot of concentration in the Singapore banks.
02:00And that's something that's a concern for investors.
02:02But at the same time, there is broadening out into the other sectors.
02:07And we see a lot of government measures to try and boost the stock market overall so that it's not
02:13just the traditional banking sector that's there to benefit.
02:16But hopefully, you know, the other sectors will also do well in this whole record run.
02:21And of course, we heard from Goldman talking about this Goldilocks economic macro environment.
02:25But this is a country that's reliant on trade.
02:30And with the ongoing Iran war that's pretty prolonged right now, are there risks right there where, you know, which
02:37has been cited as the Goldilocks situation?
02:39I think JP Morgan said that, you know, Singapore is at the Goldilocks phase.
02:44It's not too exciting where, you know, it's have a lot of volatility with the AI trade.
02:49It's also resilient against the global volatility because of the Middle East conflict.
02:56But at the same time, you know, it's resilient because it doesn't have that kind of sharp swing that we
03:01can see in North Asian markets with the AI exposure.
03:04So right now with Singapore, it's just nice.
03:07It's Goldilocks.
03:08Just nice.
03:08And it stays.
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