Morning Wrap | Singapore Loan Growth Hits Fastest Pace Since 2014; OCBC Tops Forbes Global Bank Rankings

📌 Key Takeaways

• U.S. Stocks Declined as AI Safety Concerns and Oil Prices Surged to $101.84

• Singapore's Loan Growth Accelerated to 12.5% YoY in July, Fastest Since 2014

• OCBC Ranked First Amongst Tier 1 Global Banks in Forbes' Inaugural 2026 List

• Stocks to Watch: OCBC, DBS, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, SATS, IHH Healthcare

📈 Market Snapshot

Volume / Value: 31.00M / S$72.22M

Advancers / Decliners: 53 / 80

🇺🇸 Wall Street Summary

U.S. Stocks Decline as AI Safety Concerns and Rising Oil Prices Weigh on Sentiment

U.S. stocks eased Monday as AI-related stocks tumbled on calls from top executives to slow AI development and oil prices surged amid Middle East tensions. The $Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$ shed 146.62 points (0.6%) to 26,186.41, while the $S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$ sank 37.00 points (0.5%) to 7,619.98 and the $Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI.US)$ lost 152.09 points (0.3%) to 52,421.20.

Top AI executives called over the weekend for global agreements to regulate super-powerful AI development, with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warning that "recursive self-improvement" could outrun humanity's ability to control these systems. OpenAI's Sam Altman and $SpaceX (SPCX.US)$ CEO Elon Musk publicly agreed with the concerns. Additionally, the $U.S. 10-Year Treasury Notes Yield (US10Y.BD)$ briefly hit 5.014%—its highest level in nearly three years—while $Crude Oil Futures (NOV6) (CLmain.US)$ rose 1.8% to $101.84 a barrel amid continued U.S.-Iran military hostilities.

AI infrastructure stocks led declines, with $Corning (GLW.US)$ plunging 13.7% and optical-networking peers $Coherent (COHR.US)$ (down 12.3%), $Lumentum (LITE.US)$ (off 9.9%) and $Nokia Oyj (NOK.US)$ (13.3% lower) falling sharply. Chip stocks also retreated, including $Micron Technology (MU.US)$ (5.3% lower), $Broadcom (AVGO.US)$ (4.8% softer), and $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ (down 3.4%). Conversely, cybersecurity stocks rallied, with $CrowdStrike (CRWD.US)$ surging 13.9% and $Palo Alto Networks (PANW.US)$ gaining 13.1%. The Magnificent Seven stocks bucked the trend, with $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$ (up 3.2%), $Meta Platforms (META.US)$ (2.7% better), and $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ (2% firmer) posting gains.

🇸🇬 Breaking News

MAS PathFin.ai Programme Expands to Over 300 Participants

The Monetary Authority of Singapore's PathFin.ai programme has grown to over 300 participants since its August 2025 launch, aiming to lower AI adoption costs for smaller financial institutions. MAS is also testing AI models with law enforcement and banks to detect suspicious accounts and transactions in near real time, with findings expected by year-end.

Singapore's Loan Growth Hits Fastest Pace Since 2014

Singapore's loans and advances rose 12.5% year-on-year in July, up from 11.7% in June, marking the fastest growth since 2014. Corporate loan growth reached 13.4%, led by financial services, manufacturing and transport, whilst consumer loans increased 10.4% driven by car loans and credit cards. The loan-to-deposit ratio climbed to 70.3% from 67.7% at end-2025.

Singapore to Add 23,100 Migrant Worker Dormitory Beds by 2027

Singapore will release two new Purpose-Built Dormitory sites providing an estimated 23,100 beds by 2027, expanding capacity from the current 467,000 beds across 1,600 dormitories. The Lorong Lada Hitam 1 site will offer 15,000 beds, whilst Jurong Apartments will provide 8,100 beds. Combined with six PBDs and four Quick Build Dormitories, approximately 71,500 beds are expected to be added between 2027 and the early 2030s.

Singapore Captures 91.7% of Southeast Asia Robotics Funding

Singapore accounted for 91.7% of Southeast Asia's all-time robotics funding, with companies raising $986m across 58 funding rounds, according to Tracxn. Annual funding reached a record $696m in 2026 year-to-date, driven primarily by Sharpa's $670m Series D round in August. The city-state is home to 108 of the region's 242 tracked robotics companies.

Retail Sales Growth Slows Amid Cautious Consumer Sentiment

Singapore's retail sales rose 1.5% year-on-year in July, down from 4% in June, as consumers became more cautious amidst a softer labour market. Retrenchments increased to 4,500 in Q2 from 3,830 in Q1, whilst recreational goods and watches maintained strong performance at 13.9% and 11.1% growth respectively.

🔔 Stocks to Watch

$OCBC Bank (O39.SG)$: Singapore's OCBC ranked first amongst Tier 1 global banks in Forbes' inaugural World's Top Performing Banks 2026 list, ahead of DBS, HDFC Bank, China Merchants Bank, and JPMorgan Chase. The ranking, compiled by Forbes in partnership with Statista, assessed 500 institutions from 89 countries across profitability, capital and funding resilience, asset quality and efficiency, and growth and earnings quality.

$DBS (D05.SG)$: DBS placed second amongst Tier 1 global banks in Forbes' inaugural World's Top Performing Banks 2026 list, behind OCBC. Tier 1 covers banks with more than US$500 billion in total assets, with 24 institutions included in the category. The ranking was based on financial data rather than customer survey results.

$YZJ Shipbldg SGD (BS6.SG)$: Yangzijiang Shipbuilding reportedly won a contract from an undisclosed major liner company to build 12 ultra-large container ships, according to shipbroker MB Shipbrokers. Neither the delivery schedule nor the contract value has been disclosed. The shipbuilder has yet to confirm the order.

$SATS (S58.SG)$: The aviation services group signed a memorandum of understanding with KLN Logistics to advance temperature-controlled and time-critical shipments. The partnership will focus on end-to-end handling solutions for sensitive cargo and expedited shipments, with plans to jointly develop and scale solutions across networks in Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

$IHH (Q0F.SG)$: Northern TK Venture Pte Ltd, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of IHH Healthcare, had all its claims against Daiichi Sankyo dismissed by the Tokyo District Court on September 10. The dispute relates to IHH's 2018 acquisition of Fortis Healthcare in India, where IHH claimed it suffered losses after delays in obtaining approvals for the mandatory tender offer. NTK is reviewing the judgment with legal counsel and evaluating available legal remedies.

🧾 Share Buybacks

Source: Business Times, SGinvestors.io, Business Review

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