UOB shares retreat 3.3% after reaching record high

[SINGAPORE] UOB shares declined by more than 3 per cent on Monday (Jan 26) morning, after hitting a new high last Friday.

As at 9.05 am, the counter had slipped by over 2 per cent to S$38.43, before falling further by 3.1 per cent or S$1.23 to S$38.27 by 9.17 am.

It reached S$38.20, down 3.3 per cent or S$1.30, as at 9.22 am. Later at 3.20 pm, the bank’s shares pared some losses, but was still down 2.4 per cent or S$0.93 at S$38.57.

UOB was also the largest decliner on the Straits Times Index at market open on Monday – appearing to correct from the new highs it had reached last week.

It had surged by 5 per cent on Jan 23, when it closed at S$39.50.

The retreat comes after JPMorgan downgraded UOB on Jan 25 to “underweight” from “neutral”. It maintained its target price for UOB at S$34.

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JPMorgan’s downgrade comes even as analysts were mostly positive on UOB last week, with Macquarie analyst Jayden Vantarakis raising his call on the stock to “outperform”, with an increased target price of S$41.

On the whole, Singapore’s trio of local banks were flagged as beneficiaries from wealth asset management inflows due to the city-state’s “safe-haven” status, said the analyst in a note on Jan 21.