Year to date, the lender has gained around 7.5%

 

[SINGAPORE] DBS : D05 +0.66% shares hit a new high on Friday (Jul 18) morning, bringing the Straits Times Index : *STI +0.67% (STI) to a fifth consecutive record in intraday trade this week.

 

As at 9.04 am, DBS hit S$47.05, 0.8 per cent or S$0.37 above its Thursday closing price of S$46.68, with 620,800 shares changing hands. It ended the day at S$46.99, up 0.7 per cent or S$0.31, with some 4.2 million shares transacted. 

 

The STI : *STI +0.67% extended its winning streak, rising to a high of 4,192.19 before closing at 4,189.5, up 0.7 per cent or 28.07 points. On Thursday, it reached a high for a fourth consecutive trading day, hitting an intraday peak of 4,163.45 before closing at 4,161.43. 

 

With a market capitalisation of S$132.7 billion, DBS is the largest constituent of the STI. Year to date, the lender has gained around 7.5 per cent. 

 

The stock breached the S$45 mark for the first time on Jan 8. It hit record highs several times in 2024 on the back of strong earnings and was the second-best performing stock for the year, advancing 43.9 per cent. 

 

DBS will post its earnings results for the first half of FY2025 on Aug 7. 

 

In May, its Q1 earnings fell marginally to S$2.9 billion, 2 per cent lower than the S$2.95 billion clocked in the year-ago period. Then, the bank&rsquo s chief executive Tan Su Shan noted that escalations in trade tensions had heightened macroeconomic risks and market volatility. 

 

Despite coming in lower on the year, DBS&rsquo Q1 earnings beat consensus forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of eight analysts. The lender declared a total dividend of S$0.75 per share for the quarter, up from S$0.54 per share in Q1 FY2024. 

 

The STI has advanced 10.6 per cent in the year to date. It crossed the 4,000 threshold for the first time in intraday trade on Mar 28 and closed above that level for the first time on Jul 2. 

 

Broader market

The other Singapore banks also closed higher on Friday. OCBC : O39 +1.46% ended 1.5 per cent or S$0.25 higher at S$17.33, with 9.5 million shares traded. UOB : U11 +0.6% rose 0.6 per cent or S$0.22 to S$37, with 3.2 million shares changing hands.

 

Year to date, OCBC and UOB has gained around 3.8 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively.

 

Other STI constituents, such as offshore and marine specialist Seatrium   : 5E2 +5.78%and Chinese vesselmaker Yangzijiang Shipbuilding : BS6 +2.13%, were some of the most heavily traded stocks by volume.

 

The former ended the day 5.8 per cent or S$0.13 higher at S$2.38, with 36.7 million shares changing hands, while the latter closed 2.1 per cent or S$0.05 higher at S$2.40, with 30.3 million shares traded. 

 

Seatrium has advanced 15 per cent in the year to date, and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding has retreated 19.7 per cent.