The Straits Times Index added 17.9 points, or 0.31%, to close at 5,729.02 on Monday, building on Friday's finish of 5,711.12. The index traded between an intraday high of 5,749.66 and a low of 5,702.36, with advancers outnumbering decliners 16 to 12 and two constituents unchanged. The broadly positive session nonetheless absorbed the sharpest single-stock swing of recent weeks.

Singapore stocks opened the week with a tailwind from Wall Street, which rose Friday on hopes for an easing in Middle East oil tensions. Locally, a core inflation reading of 2.2% has firmed expectations that the Monetary Authority of Singapore will hold a tighter policy stance for longer. Banks led the advance, with UOB, OCBC and DBS all closing higher together after diverging last Wednesday, resuming the sector's pattern of alternating between synchronized and split sessions. Investors were also positioning ahead of Micron's results and this week's US core PCE and payrolls data.

Session Movers

UOB (U11.SG, +1.69%) led the three banks higher to $43.29, extending its push into Southeast Asia's AI-infrastructure financing, where it recently acted as lead arranger for a US$3.1 billion GPU credit facility for data-centre operator ZanKore — part of an estimated US$20 billion regional financing need tied to power constraints on AI buildouts. The stock trades at 1.42 times book, cheaper than just 2.22% of the past five years, against a consensus Hold rating and a $43.30 target that sits almost exactly at Monday's close.

OCBC (O39.SG, +0.66%) rose to $32.22, extending last week's gain after UOB Kay Hian reiterated a Buy rating on Sept. 25 with a $35.70 target. The stock trades at 2.24 times book, cheaper than just 0.15% of the past five years — among the richest readings on the board — against a broader consensus Buy rating and a $31.53 target.

Singapore Airlines (C6L.SG, +1.2%) climbed to $6.73 after renewing its agreement with DHL Express to continue operating five Boeing 777 freighters based at Changi Airport, with SIA pilots flying the fleet and its engineers handling maintenance in support of DHL's intercontinental cargo network into the US. The carrier trades at 17.7 times earnings, cheaper than just 9.97% of the past three years, against a consensus Hold rating and a $6.96 target, roughly 3.5% above Monday's close.

City Developments (C09.SG, -8.11%) tumbled to $7.59, its sharpest one-day drop in recent sessions, after unveiling the strategic review flagged since last Wednesday: a three-year plan to divest S$6 billion in assets — 30% from hotels, 45% from commercial properties — while deploying S$5 billion into new investments, mostly in Singapore, with a goal of doubling assets under management. Chief executive Sherman Kwek called for "unwavering focus" on execution, following the public rift between Kwek and his father, chairman Kwek Leng Beng, which the board has since resolved. DBS maintained a Buy rating Monday with a $12.00 target, part of a broader Street view putting the stock at Strong Buy with an average $11.83 target, but neither steadied the shares. The stock trades at 0.789 times book, cheaper than 46.92% of the past year, against an industry median of 0.51 times.

One point worth noting

Monday's steepest move dwarfed the rest of the board: City Developments' 8.11% decline was more than two-and-a-half times the size of the next-largest mover, DFI Retail's 3.03% drop, and nearly five times the size of Monday's best-performing bank, UOB's 1.69% gain. Yet the index still advanced, as broad gains across banks and a cluster of industrial and transport names — 16 advancers against 12 decliners — comfortably outweighed the shock from a single large-cap name. It is a reminder that an outsized company-specific reaction does not necessarily set the tone for the wider market when the rest of the board is moving the other way.