Market earnings per share to rise 8% this year

Earnings are set to recover after two years of negative growth.

This year spells good earnings per share for the overall market, with expectations of an 8% rise from the decline of 7.6% in the past year.

According to UOB KayHian, earnings are set to recover after two years of negative growth.

"So far, the 1Q17 reporting season has been encouraging and with a pick-up in Singapore’s GDP, we see a lower downside risk in corporate earnings in 2017. The recovery is key after two years of negative earnings growth and disappointments in the market. Particularly comforting is the solid results from banks as it appears that the worst is over for NPL formation from the oil & gas sector," the brokerage firm said.

More so, it noted that the strength in NODX over the past 5 months (up to March) suggests a likely pick-up in Singapore’s GDP growth in 2017.