SGX Group (Singapore Exchange) today reported robust trading activity in October, with Singapore’s stock market showing continued strength and derivative volumes buoyed by institutional inflows into Asia and active risk management as global investors navigated central bank moves and divergent macro developments.
Key highlights:
- Stock market extends positive momentum: Securities market turnover value rose 26% year-on-year (y-o-y) in October to S$33.9 billion, as securities daily average value (SDAV) climbed 26% y-o-y to S$1.54 billion. The bellwether Straits Times Index (STI) advanced 3% month-on-month (m-o-m) to 4,428.62, taking calendar year-to-date (YTD) gains to 16.9% and total returns to 21.9% – outperforming most ASEAN markets.
- Index stocks buoy turnover: Cash SDAV increased 24% y-o-y in October to S$1.44 billion, fuelled by S$380 million in institutional net inflows into index as well as small- and mid-cap stocks. This marked the ninth consecutive month of net inflows to small- and mid-caps, extending a stellar run since the first set of Equities Market Review Group measures were announced in February. Retail investors booked profits across stock segments, lifting turnover by 6% m-o-m. On 16 October, Singapore real-estate developer Soon Hock Enterprise Holding Limited joined Mainboard.
- Deepening ASEAN capital market connectivity: SGX Group on 16 October announced the launch of the Indonesia-Singapore Depository Receipt (DR) Linkage in collaboration with the Indonesia Stock Exchange, debuting an inaugural batch of Singapore Depository Receipts (SDR) based on Indonesia blue-chip underlyings. That was the second exchange-level DR cooperation in ASEAN, building on the success of the Thailand-Singapore DR linkage.
- Unrivalled China equity access: DAV in SGX FTSE China A50 Index Futures rose 17% m-o-m in October to 601,676 lots (US$9.2 billion notional) – the highest in a year – as heightened geopolitical uncertainties spurred hedging activity. The contract is the world’s most liquid international futures for Chinese equities. DAV in SGX FTSE China H50 Index Futures climbed to a record 9,986 lots (US$363 million notional), driven by new institutional adoption, with traded volume reaching a new high of 18,280 lots (US$656 million notional) on 13 October.
- AI momentum boosts Taiwan volumes: Optimism in global AI demand propelled Taiwan’s equity markets to new highs, with DAV of SGX FTSE Taiwan Index Futures gaining 6% y-o-y in October to 78,592 lots (US$7.1 billion). Complementing the contract, the SGX Micro FTSE Taiwan Index Futures, launched in March this year, set a record DAV of 5,764 lots (US$52 million notional).
- Risk-managing India across asset classes: Global investors risk-managed India across equity derivatives and foreign exchange (FX) futures. Open interest (OI) in GIFT Nifty 50 Index Futures and Options rose to a record of 316,741 contracts (US$16 billion notional) in October on the back of sustained institutional interest and a robust equity market. SGX INR/USD FX Futures traded volume jumped 60% y-o-y to 2.8 million contracts as the Reserve Bank of India intervened to stabilize the rupee, an increase that boosted total FX futures volume by 26% y-o-y to a five-month high of 6.7 million contracts.
- Record iron ore open interest: Commodity derivatives traded volume climbed 17% y-o-y in October to 6.6 million contracts as market participants managed risks around China’s high-level policy discussions and the Xi-Trump meeting in South Korea. Benchmark iron ore derivatives volume gained 23% y-o-y, as futures OI set a single-day record of 2,195,002 lots on 29 October. Petrochemical derivatives volume was up 48% y-o-y while forward freight derivatives volume increased to a three-month high, underlining broad-based growth across the commodities suite.
The full market statistics report can be found here.
