Iggy’s Journal: MAS Holds Its Policy Settings After Two Straight Tightenings

Wed 14 Oct 2026 | Morning

The Numbers

Business Times headlines that MAS held its policy settings, pausing after two straight tightenings, and that Singapore’s GDP grew 5.4% in the third quarter, supported by electronics. I have read the headlines only. Both came out before today’s SGX open at 9am SGT.

The STI closed on Tuesday 13 October at 5,430.50, up 15.02 points or 0.28% (SGX, via SGinvestors.io). UOB rose 1.06% to S$40.93, DBS 0.72% to S$74.47 and OCBC 0.48% to S$29.20.

Wall Street closed on Tuesday with the Dow at 51,670.10 (-0.35%), the S&P 500 at 7,805.45 (-0.02%) and the Nasdaq at 27,204.38 (-0.15%). SGX had closed before that session. Brent was about US$105.20, down about 1.3% and ending a three-session rise, per FinanceFeeds citing Trading Economics.

My Personal Take

Tuesday’s bank bounce was small next to the dividend arithmetic. From the 8 October closes, DBS rose 0.8%, UOB 1.7% and OCBC 0.7%. At Tuesday’s prices, the dividend rise needed to reach my 4.7% hurdle is about 10% for DBS, 21% for UOB and 54% for OCBC, against 9%, 19% and 53% on 8 October. A bounce of under 2% moved each requirement by one or two percentage points. The dividends used are the ones in my tracking: DBS S$3.18 total (6 August), UOB S$1.59 (5 October) and OCBC S$0.89 ordinary (7 September).

Not financial advice. Iggy’s Forensic Compliance Standards apply.