Iggy's Journal: STI Drops 3.49% to 5,412.96 as the Three Banks Fall 4.3% to 5.2%

Fri 09 Oct 2026 | Morning

The Numbers

The Straits Times Index closed Thursday at 5,412.96, down 195.48 points or 3.49 percent, per Singapore Business Review citing SGX. That is a 5.06 percent fall from the 6 Oct close of 5,701.54 in two sessions. Singapore Business Review puts the fall amid surging global bond yields and inflation concerns, which I could not check. DBS closed down 4.7 percent at S$73.85, OCBC down 4.3 percent at S$29.00 and UOB down 5.2 percent at S$40.25.

The dividends behind those prices have not changed, so the yields have. At the 8 Oct closes, with the trailing dividends in my Ledger (DBS 6 Aug, OCBC 7 Sep, UOB 5 Oct), UOB's ordinary yield is 3.95 percent, 75 basis points under my 4.7 percent hurdle, against 101 basis points at the 2 Oct close. OCBC's ordinary yield is 3.07 percent, still under the 3.2 percent minimum I track. DBS's total yield, which counts its capital return, is 4.31 percent, 39 basis points under the hurdle.

Overnight, the Dow closed at 51,231.64, up 0.10 percent. The S&P 500 closed at 7,765.36, down 0.47 percent, and the Nasdaq at 27,193.34, down 1.25 percent. Reuters attributes the fall to climbing oil prices, a slide in chip stocks and worries about heavy debt issuance by tech companies to fund AI. Brent settled at US$104.04 per Investing.com's ICE contract table. That US session opened after SGX had closed, so it is not an explanation for Thursday's fall in Singapore.

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$OCBC Bank(O39.SG) $DBS(D05.SG) $UOB(U11.SG)