Singapore saw a 0.62 percent decline in market capitalisation over the month to $823 billion, due to eurozone debt concerns and new political tensions in Korea.
According to data from The Business Times, the market cap for November hovered at a near three-year high, or at pre-crisis levels, at $824 billion in September 2007 and 26.4 percent higher than the $651 billion registered in 2009.
Out of the 30 index stocks, 12 recorded firmer market value including Sembcorp Marine and Keppel Corporation.
In the Citi Investment Research report for 2011, strategist Markus Rosgen expects that the majority of Asian markets will trend higher.
“Looking at factors such as valuations, balance sheets and flows via trading activity to prior bubbles leads one to the conclusion that talk of a bubble at this stage is premature,” said Mr. Rosgen.
“Could we have a bubble? Of course. Asia ex-Japan has had four bubbles in the last 35 years: why not a fifth? Leave real rates low for long enough and we’ll be guaranteed one.”
Notably, OCBC Bank has risen up the ranks to become the largest bank in Southeast Asia by market value, closing yesterday with a value of $33.2 billion, up 11.9 percent over the month.
DBS Group is currently the second-largest bank among local lenders with a market value of $32.3 billion, while UOB now has a market value of $28.9 billion.
In a November 16 report, CIMB Research kept its “overweight” on Singapore banks, noting that the sector trades below the mean of its price-to-earnings and price-to-book levels.
“The sector has underperformed because of the known negative of a period of sustained low interest rates,” said analyst Kenneth Ng, who added that OCBC and DBS have stronger revenue engines while UOB is somewhat lacking.