Singapore’s Straits Times Index opened softer on Monday as investors priced in another week of unhealthy air, with airlines, outdoor attraction operators and suburban mall landlords among the early losers while defensives such as utilities and selected real estate investment trusts attracted buyers.
Brokers said afternoon volumes might pick up if United States futures steadied, but the local narrative was dominated by air quality. Property stocks with suburban malls and outdoor atriums underperformed peers with fully enclosed footprints, a pattern portfolio managers last saw during the September 2019 haze spell.
Derivatives on the STI saw modest put buying at the 3,350 strike, but open interest remained below August levels, suggesting hedges were tactical rather than structural. REIT investors continued to favour data-centre and logistics names with filtered intakes, echoing Monday’s business story on Keppel’s Tuas waste-to-energy start-up.
By 10 a.m., the benchmark was down about 0.4 percent, reversing a thin gain on Friday when shipbuilding names rallied on order-book headlines. Monday’s drag came less from macro surprises — there were none — and more from traders rehearsing the 2015 playbook: when PSI readings sit in the unhealthy band for multiple days, discretionary spending shifts indoors and tourism footfall softens.
Airlines and leisure feel it first
Singapore Airlines and SATS traded lower in early deals as tour agents reported postponements of outdoor city tours. Genting Singapore, which relies on walk-in traffic at Resorts World Sentosa, slipped even though its casinos are enclosed; investors worried that regional visitors might delay weekend trips while Malaysia and Indonesia also reported haze.
Mapletree Logistics Trust and Frasers Centrepoint Trust moved in opposite directions. Logistics assets with sealed warehouses held steady, while suburban malls with open-air plazas faced questions about tenant sales during school-holiday weekends. City Developments, which operates mixed-use projects along Orchard Road, was flat as analysts noted that enclosed malls can capture spending that would have gone to park events cancelled under NEA guidance.
Utilities and waste names
Singapore Exchange turnover was average for a Monday, suggesting institutions were not panic selling. Senoko Energy’s parent Sembcorp Industries drew interest after Keppel announced commercial operations at its Tuas waste-to-energy plant, reinforcing the theme that contracted utility assets benefit when households run air conditioners longer.
Foreign funds remained net sellers of Singapore equities for the third session, according to preliminary SGX data, but the magnitude was small compared with August’s rebalancing flows. Options markets showed little demand for downside protection beyond the usual earnings-week hedges.
The STI is not a pure haze barometer — banks still dominate the index — but Monday’s tape showed which sectors investors expect to absorb the air-quality shock first. Until PSI forecasts improve, outdoor-exposed names will struggle to lead any sustained rally.