Sunday, February 8, 2026

STI watchlist (22 Jan to 6 Feb 2026): Breadth improved, with Keppel-led strength while REITs and Yangzijiang lagged

Across the 10 Excel snapshots (22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 Jan and 4, 5, 6 Feb 2026), the STI constituents showed firmer breadth into early February. In this window, 19 of the 30 names rose on a last-price basis, while 11 declined. The pattern looked less like a broad “everything rally” and more like rotation: communication services and selected cyclicals led, the banks stayed constructive, and several rate-sensitive REITs softened.

The clearest feature in the data was the strength in Keppel. Keppel gained about 6.9% from 22 Jan to 6 Feb, and it also accelerated into the last few observations with higher-than-usual trading activity versus its 3-month average. This price action fits with the company’s FY2025 results catalyst and shareholder distribution headlines, which lifted sentiment and re-rated the “asset monetisation + recurring income” story.

Singtel also stood out, rising about 5.8% over the window. Even though it pulled back in the last few observations in your dataset, it remained close to its 52-week high. The market narrative locally has been increasingly anchored on digital infrastructure optionality, and the early-February data centre deal headlines (involving Singtel through a consortium transaction) likely reinforced this theme.

Among the financial heavyweights, DBS, OCBC and UOB showed steady upward drift rather than sharp moves. That “grind higher” matters because the banks are still a large driver of index direction, and in your snapshots the prices stayed above key moving averages more often than not. The immediate swing factor for the coming weeks is earnings season messaging and capital return expectations (dividends, buybacks, special distributions), which tends to matter as much as headline profit numbers for Singapore banks.

On the cyclical and reopening-sensitive side, Singapore Airlines rose about 4.5% over the same window, with the data also showing prices holding above longer-term averages. That lines up with the continued “demand is strong but yields are the watch item” framing that often accompanies the operating statistics updates; the December operating figures reported in mid-January still pointed to healthy passenger and cargo activity, which can keep near-term confidence supported even if investors debate margin normalisation.

The laggards were also quite clear, and they help explain the market’s risk preferences. Yangzijiang Shipbuilding fell about 6.5% over the window and also saw notably elevated volume versus its 3-month average, suggesting heavier two-way trading and less patience from marginal buyers. Several REITs and yield proxies also drifted down, including Mapletree Industrial Trust (about -3.8%), Mapletree Logistics Trust (about -3.7%), and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT (about -3.1%). Taken together with the relative resilience in “growth-by-investment” infrastructure names, the tape looked consistent with investors being selective about balance sheet leverage and distribution durability rather than simply chasing headline yields.

Looking ahead a few weeks, the dataset suggests two practical “setups” to watch. The first is leadership continuation: names that are near their 52-week highs and above key moving averages can keep working if catalysts continue to land and there is no macro shock. In your window, Keppel, Singtel and several large caps in real estate/industrials (for example, CapitaLand Investment and ST Engineering) sat in that higher-momentum bucket. The second is mean reversion: some laggards may bounce, but the data implies investors will likely demand a clear trigger (results, guidance, order wins, capital actions) because the down-moves were not isolated to one day and, in some cases, came with higher volume.

For portfolio construction, it is still sensible to separate what anchors the portfolio from what expresses a short-to-medium term view. For “core” holdings, the data supports an emphasis on the index’s structural weights and cashflow durability: DBS, OCBC and UOB as the banking trio, plus Singtel as a defensive-ish cash generator with digital infrastructure upside, and ST Engineering as a steadier industrial compounder. This does not mean these names cannot fall, but in your snapshots they behaved like the market’s “backbone” rather than the market’s “lottery tickets,” and they are the ones most likely to benefit if earnings season confirms stable fundamentals.

For “satellite” positions, the data points more towards selective opportunistic exposure where there is visible momentum and a narrative catalyst. Keppel fits this best in your window, because the price rise was large, the move strengthened into early February, and the newsflow has been supportive. Singapore Airlines can also sit as a satellite for investors who accept aviation cyclicality, because the price action stayed constructive alongside continued operating updates. A smaller satellite allocation could also be reserved for one or two REITs only if an investor has a strong view on the rate path and can tolerate short-term volatility, since your window showed REIT performance was uneven and not broadly supportive.

Two cautions are worth keeping explicit. First, short windows can overstate momentum, especially around results announcements and one-off transactions, so it is safer to treat this as “watchlist prioritisation” rather than a definitive forecast. Second, a few fields in the dataset can look extreme (for example, trailing dividend yield figures) depending on how special dividends and trailing-period calculations were captured, so investors should cross-check any unusually high yield signals against company announcements before acting.


If you want to do your own analysis, you can get the data I used for the price of a cup of kopi!  Here:


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