- Most liquid derivatives venue for Asian access during Lunar New Year holiday
- Benchmark STI rises to fresh multi-year high and record ETF AUM
Singapore Exchange (SGX Group) today released its market statistics for January 2025. Trading activity accelerated across multiple asset classes, driven by increased risk-management activity over the Lunar New Year holiday, heightened volatility amid a technology selloff as well as global policymaking uncertainty.
Derivatives traded volume climbed 3% month-on-month (m-o-m) in January to 23.9 million contracts, with derivatives daily average volume (DAV) up 14% m-o-m at 1.24 million contracts. Securities market turnover value gained 4% m-o-m to S$20.8 billion, with securities daily average value (SDAV) up 9% m-o-m at S$1.04 billion.
Key highlights:
- Most liquid venue for China access: DAV of global benchmark SGX FTSE China A50 Index Futures rose 21% m-o-m in January to 470,495 lots (US$6.1 billion notional). As the most liquid derivatives venue in Asia open during the Lunar New Year holiday, market participants positioned their portfolios on SGX in anticipation of the new U.S. administration’s trade policies. Compared with the same holiday a year ago, DAV of the contract – the world’s most liquid international futures for Chinese equities – was 24% higher at 102,633 contracts (US$1.3 billion notional).
- Trusted hedging tool amid AI tech rout: Volume in SGX FTSE Taiwan Index Futures surged on news of DeepSeek’s low-cost artificial intelligence (AI) model during the Lunar New Year period, triggering a global AI technology selloff. Compared with the same holiday a year ago, DAV was 6% higher at 23,597 lots. In January, DAV during the overnight session was 27,807 lots, 21% higher than the average in 2024. Total volume increased 17% m-o-m to 1.33 million contracts.
- Record Indian rupee futures volume on strong hedging demand: SGX INR/USD FX Futures traded volume surged 53% year-on-year (y-o-y) in January to 1.92 million contracts (US$44.4 billion notional), an all-time high, with a single-day T-session record of 184,962 lots (US$4.29 billion notional) achieved on 24 January. Global investors geared up to actively manage currency risk on SGX FX ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy announcement in early February, underscoring its role as a trusted and highly liquid venue for hedging. Open interest climbed from 135,251 lots on 23 January to 183,408 lots by 27 January.
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Record petrochemicals activity amid broad-based commodity growth: Petrochemicals traded volume on SGX Commodities rose to an all-time high of 2.43 million metric tonnes in January, up 42% y-o-y, driven by records for both paraxylene (PX) and benzene (BZ) contracts. Heightened geopolitical uncertainty fuelled activity, alongside a growing base of market participants. DAV of SGX SICOM rubber derivatives – the global pricing bellwether for natural rubber – gained 35% y-o-y to 15,155 contracts, on the back of an increasingly diverse participant base.
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STI rises to highest in over 17 years: The Straits Times Index (STI) climbed to 3,886.98 on 8 January, the highest since October 2007. For the month, the benchmark advanced 1.8% m-o-m to 3,855.82, against declines for peer indices across ASEAN. Cash SDAV increased 8% m-o-m to S$1 billion, with growth in trading activity across all client segments led by real-estate investment trusts (REIT) and index stocks.
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Record ETF AUM: On SGX Securities, the market turnover value of exchange-traded funds (ETF) climbed 13% m-o-m in January to S$324 million, while turnover of structured warrants and daily leverage certificates (DLC) gained 40% m-o-m to S$431 million. ETF assets-under-management (AUM) jumped 25% y-o-y to a record S$13.3 billion during the month, with the SPDR Gold Shares, CSOP iEdge SEA+ TECH ETF and NikkoAM Singapore STI ETF among the top three ETFs by net inflows. AUM of the seven north-bound and south-bound listings under Singapore’s ETF links with Shanghai and Shenzhen crossed S$639 million, up from S$252 million a year ago.
The full market statistics report can be found here.
