DAILY MORNING NOTE | 1 April 2026

Wall Street ended sharply higher on Tuesday, lifted by speculation about a potential de-escalation in the Middle East conflict. The US stock market’s most valuable companies made big gains, with Nvidia up 5.6 per cent, Alphabet adding 5.1 per cent and Meta Platforms jumping 6.7 per cent. The S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded their biggest one-day gains since May 2025, when investors reacted to a truce in the trade war between Washington and Beijing.

Singapore stocks ended lower on Tuesday (Mar 31) and regional markets posted mixed results after US President Donald Trump escalated threats against Iran and its energy infrastructure. Stocks lost 0.2 per cent or 11.81 points to finish at 4,885.45. OCBC led the gainers, rising 1.6 per cent or S$0.34 to S$21.97. The other local banks ended mixed on Tuesday. UOB was up 0.3 per cent or S$0.11 at S$36.65, while DBS finished 0.1 per cent or S$0.07 lower at S$56.90. Biggest decliner was Jardine Matheson, which fell 3.5 per cent or US$2.57 to US$71.15.

Singapore Technical Highlights

TOP 5 GAINERS & LOSERS

Events Of The Week

SG

Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Tuesday (Mar 31) extended the cancellation of its flights between the city-state and Dubai to end May, citing geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East. The cancellations of both SQ494 and SQ495 flights between Singapore and Dubai had previously been extended to end-April. This is after two extensions from Mar 28 and Mar 15 previously.

OCBC will lower the interest rate for its 360 Account with effect from May 1, to 4.45 per cent per annum on the first S$100,000, down from the current rate of 5.45 per cent. The adjustment is “in line with broader market conditions”. This marks the first time in 2026 that the lender has revised interest rates for its 360 Account.

Ride-hailing platform Grab and taxi operator Strides on Tuesday (Mar 31) announced a series of fare increases and driver support measures to combat the recent volatility in pump prices. Both companies said that the adjustments are necessary as fuel costs remain high and unpredictable, putting significant financial strain on drivers.

Household electricity tariffs will rise 2.1 per cent for the second quarter of 2026, said SP Group on Tuesday (Mar 31). This increase comes as global energy costs rise due to the Gulf conflict. The Energy Market Authority (EMA) said on Tuesday (Mar 31) that Singapore should prepare for further and potentially sharper increases in electricity and town gas tariffs, as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East strains global fuel supply chains.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding said on Tuesday (Mar 31) that it secured shipbuilding contracts for 22 vessels in the first quarter of 2026, with an estimated aggregate value of about US$980 million. The contracts are for 17 container ships, four oil tankers and one bulk carrier. These are scheduled for deliveries between 2028 and 2029.

OUE Limited expects “material variances” between its unaudited interim financial statements for the financial year ended December 2025, released on Feb 27, and its audited financial statements, which will be released in due course. This comes as its share of losses from equity-accounted investees, as reported in the unaudited financial statements, is expected to be reduced by around S$58 million.

A unit of e-commerce company JD.com and partners have picked financial advisers including Bank of America, DBS Group Holdings and UBS Group for an initial public offering of their Singapore-based real estate investment trust.

Home-grown beverage maker Yeo Hiap Seng is laying off 25 staff from its Senoko facility, or around 9 per cent of its Singapore headcount. The move comes amid a consolidation of Yeo’s canned drinks manufacturing processes to Malaysia.

City Developments Ltd chief executive officer Sherman Kwek will be paid S$5.1 million in total compensation for FY2025, marking a 70.8 per cent increase from the S$2.97 million that he earned the year before.

Chemical logistics player Katoen Natie is investing S$60 million in a new warehouse on Jurong Island that will boost its storage capacity at the petrochemicals hub by more than 20 per cent.

US

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the US could end its military campaign against Iran within two to three weeks. Brent futures for June delivery settled down more than US$3 on Tuesday following unconfirmed media reports that Iran’s president said the country was ready to end the war, assuming some guarantees were put into place.

US job openings fell more than expected in February and hiring dropped to the lowest level in nearly six years, government data showed on Tuesday (Mar 31). Job openings, a measure of labour demand, decreased 358,000 to 6.882 million by the last day of February.

Microsoft plans to invest US$1 billion in Thailand over the next two years in cloud services and AI infrastructure. The investment includes developing digital skills of the Thai workforce.

Nike beat expectations for third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, as the sportswear giant’s turnaround efforts showed some signs of progress, particularly in its wholesale business, even as weakness in China and margin pressure persisted. Nike has pulled back promotions, stepped up product innovation and refocused on core franchises such as running as it tries to reset the business after years of excess inventory and uneven demand across North America and China.

Huawei Technologies reported 2.2 growth in 2025 revenue on Tuesday (Mar 31), helped by its core businesses of infrastructure network and consumer devices, while its cloud computing operation saw a revenue decline.

Source: SGX Masnet, Bloomberg, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, CNBC, WSJ, The Business Times, The Edge Singapore, PSR

RESEARCH REPORTS

Lion-Phillip S-REIT ETF – Valuation attractive as rate outlook stays supportive

Recommendation: ACCUMULATE; TP S$0.90; Last close: S$0.8020; Analyst Helena Wang

• We value Lion-Phillip S-REIT ETF (SREITS) using a combination of historical dividend yield spread and price-to-book ratios. The prices are S$0.89 and S$0.91, respectively, using these two valuation methods. We maintain our ACCUMULATE recommendation by assigning equal weight to both valuations; we decrease our target price to S$0.90 (previously S$0.965).
• CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and CapitaLand Ascendas REIT have entered as the top two, replacing Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust, while Mapletree Logistics Trust remains, but at a slightly lower weight. SREITS remains well-diversified across eight sectors, with industrial at 37.8% as the largest.
• Following the Fed’s remarks easing concerns over inflation from higher energy prices and reinforcing expectations of eventual rate cuts, we see a more constructive outlook for S-REITs. It should support further interest cost relief, underpinning stronger DPU growth into FY26.

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