Iggy's Journal: Singapore Closed Green. Asia Mostly Did Not.
3 September 2026, AM

Market Data
Wall Street closed Wednesday, 2 September, higher, snapping a three-day losing streak. The Dow finished at 53,061.95, up 295.07 points or 0.6%. The S&P 500 closed at 7,666.60, up 35.13 points or 0.5%. The Nasdaq closed at 26,217.83, up 118.05 points or 0.5%. The VIX eased to 15.28, down 6.5% on the session. AP and Kiplinger both pointed to cooling US Treasury yields after this week's post Jackson Hole bond selloff as the main support for the rebound. Brent crude settled at $95.51, up 0.9%.

The Straits Times Index closed Wednesday at 5,744.11, up 33.74 points or 0.6%, per Business Times. DBS finished at S$77.60, up 0.9%. OCBC closed at S$31.85, up 1.6%. UOB closed at S$41.77, up 0.8%. City Developments led the STI's gainers, up 2.1% to S$8.58. Seatrium was the index's worst performer, down 2.3% to S$2.12. Across the broader market, losers outpaced gainers 323 to 231, on 1.5 billion securities traded worth S$1.9 billion.

Same session, regional markets diverged sharply. The Hang Seng slipped 0.1%. The Nikkei fell 2.9%. The Kospi dropped 4%. The KLCI rose 0.5%, the only other regional gainer alongside Singapore.

Separately, Keppel DC REIT upsized its private placement from S$600 million to S$625 million, about 3.4 times covered, at an issue price of S$2.10. New units are due from 10 September. The counter resumed trading Wednesday after the earlier halt.

My Personal Take
That is two tapes, not one mood. Singapore closed green, and the three local banks closed green with it. Tokyo was down 2.9%. Seoul was down 4%. Hong Kong was barely red. KLCI was the other green print. I am not pouring a 0.6% STI into the same glass as a region that mostly sold off.

Overnight the US bounced on cooling bond yields, not on any real change in the oil picture. Brent is still sitting above $95. Keppel DC REIT's placement upsize is a funding fact, not a zone moving one, it is already Ledger tracked for an unrelated occupancy gap at its Cardiff asset, and a bigger bet on Japan does not fix that on its own. Worth watching though, Japan now makes up 23% of the REIT's income base, up from 9%, and Business Times is already asking whether the easy yen trade behind that shift is over.

Keep the Singapore green and the Asia selloff in separate cups. The kopi is not sweeter because Wall Street snapped a streak.

Not financial advice. Iggy's Forensic Compliance Standards apply.

Cheers, Iggy 🦖