Singapore stocks soar to record high: Weekly Market Recap

It was great seeing so many of you at MooFest 2025 yesterday. Thanks for stopping by our booth and saying hi to the team!

At the event, I was invited to speak at a panel on “Why the Singapore market deserves an allocation in every investor’s portfolio”, and the timing couldn’t have been better. 

This week, the STI hit a new all-time high after five straight days of gains. I shared three key reasons behind the rally:

1. Solid fundamentals — STI’s dividend yield is still higher than the T-bill yield
2. Singapore’s reputation as a safe haven in uncertain times
3. Renewed interest in the local market, with steps taken to revitalise it

We’ll likely see interest being sustained with the upcoming IPO of NTT DC REIT, Singapore’s largest REIT listing in a decade. We share our thoughts about NTT DC REIT and the results of the public offer.

Meanwhile, T-bill yields continue to fall, and we discuss what to expect in the upcoming 17 July auction. With lower yields on safer instruments, income-generating investments are starting to look even more appealing.

If you’re exploring bond fund options, check out how Moomoo Income Plus offers a simple way to gain exposure. 

Some members in the Beansprout Telegram community have also shared that some endowment plans may offer higher potential returns than fixed deposits and T-bills. We explore if endowment plans are a good way to generate passive income.

The key takeaway from the MooFest panel? Even with the market at record highs, opportunities still exist. They just might be in places you haven’t looked yet.

Gerald, Founder of Beansprout

⏰ This Week In Markets

🏛 U.S. announces new tariffs 

What happened? 

U.S. President Donald Trump announced new 25% tariffs on imports from South Korea, Japan, and Malaysia, raising fresh concerns about escalating trade tensions in Asia. 

On top of that, a steep 50% tariff on copper is set to be introduced, potentially impacting commodity prices.

What does this mean?

While new U.S. tariffs on key Asian economies made headlines this week, markets remained relatively calm compared to past reactions.

Instead, investor focus shifted to the upcoming earnings season, with tech once again stealing the limelight.

Nvidia made waves by crossing the US$4 trillion market cap mark for the first time, putting AI-related stocks firmly back on investors’ radar.

Why should I care?

The S&P 500 dipped only slightly despite the announcement of fresh U.S. tariffs, as investor sentiment remained resilient.

Back home, Singapore stocks rose for the fifth straight session to hit new record highs. 

Leading the charge was Singtel, which gained 5.7% this week and crossed the S$4 mark, reaching multi-year highs in the process. Watch our recent conversation with Singtel’s CFO to find out more about the company’s financial performance and outlook. 

🚗  Moving This Week

• OCBC CEO Helen Wong will step down from her role at the end of this year. She will be succeeded by the bank's head of global wholesale banking Tan Teck Long. Mr Tan will take over as group CEO on Jan 1, 2026. He will also with immediate effect assume the additional role of deputy CEO to facilitate the transition process over the next six months. Read more here.
• Great Eastern Holdings (GEH) is set to resume trading after a vote for a delisting resolution fell through at its extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Tuesday (Jul 8). 63.49 per cent of minority shareholders present and voting at the EGM cast their votes in favour of a conditional exit offer from parent company OCBC, falling short of the 75 per cent required to pass the resolution. Read more here.
• UOB says that it accepts the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)’s decision to impose a penalty of $5.6 million on the bank for its anti-money laundering related breaches. MAS imposed composition penalties amounting to $27.45 million to nine financial institutions (FIs) for breaching the central bank’s anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements. Read more here.
• IReit Global has secured two new leases in Spain last month, totalling around 5,200 square metres (sq m). These tenancies will raise its overall occupancy rate from about 77 per cent to 83 per cent, after letting. Read more here.
• Stoneweg Europe Stapled Trust portfolio valuations increased by 1.1 per cent or 24.9 million euros (S$37.3 million) for the first half of the year compared to December 2024, to about 2.3 billion euros. This was attributed to positive economic and market factors such as inflation, easing monetary policy and strong demand prospects causing an increase in market rents and compression in terminal cap rate across the portfolio. Read more here
• Info-Tech Systems ended its first trading day at S$0.91 on Friday (Jul 4), 4.6 per cent above its initial public offering (IPO) price. The counter opened at S$0.95 and reached as high as S$0.98 in Singapore’s first mainboard listing in close to two years. 

Source: Bloomberg, CNBC, Business Times, Edge Singapore

💡 The Big Important Story

NTT DC REIT IPO at projected 7.5% yield. Is it worth applying?

NTT DC REIT is set to be Singapore's largest REIT IPO in a decade. 

🤓 What we're looking out for next week

• Monday, 14 July: NTT DC REIT expected listing date
• Tuesday, 15 July: US CPI data, JPMorgan, Citigroup earnings
• Wednesday, 16 July: Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America earnings
• Thursday, 17 July: 6-Month Singapore T-bill auction, TSMC, Netflix earnings
• Friday, 18 July: University of Michigan Inflation data

Get the full list of stocks with upcoming dividends here. 

Source: SGX, Bloomberg, Refinitiv

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