Banks outperform lacklustre STI with tiny gains over last three quarters

The STI gained a measly 1.9%.

Data from the SGX showed that banks had the largest outperformance among all STI component sectors in the past three quarters.

The quarters under review are 1Q15, 4Q14, and 3Q14. In this period, the three banks generated an average price gain of 3.8%.

In comparison, the STI averaged a price gain of 1.9% and a total dividend-adjusted return of 2.6% over the same period.

Among the banks, DBS was the best performer, with an average price gain of 6.9% over the last three quarters, followed by OCBC (3.5%) and UOB (0.9%).