Singapore Market: DBS falls on technical recession fears

Shares of Southeast Asia’s largest lender DBS Group (DBSM.SI) fell as much as 2% on Monday, weighed by growing concerns the city-state may slip into a technical recession.

At 11:32 a.m., DBS was 1.9% lower at $12.39, while its smaller rival United Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI) was down 1.9% at $17.44 with 794,000 shares changing hands.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC.SI) dropped 1.5% to $8.35.

“More people seem to be expecting Singapore to slip into a technical recession in the next few quarters,” a local trader said.

“Moreover with concerns about the global economy slowing down as well, all these factors are weighing on banking shares, which are a barometer for the economy.”

Nomura said in a report Singapore’s GDP growth fell to -6.5% seasonally adjusted quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, and “recent events have raised the specter of another quarter of negative growth in Q3”. (The Edge Singapore)