SGX securities turnover value climbs 50% to nearly $39b

Total market turnover value on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) reached $38.75 billion last month, up 50 per cent from $25.78 billion in February. Turnover for the January to March period rose 12 per cent year on year to $94.2 billion.

Investor optimism over the strength of the economic recovery buoyed global markets, SGX said in its monthly market statistics report yesterday.

Securities daily average value (SDAV) rose 24 per cent on the month to $1.69 billion. Quarter on quarter, SDAV increased by 18 per cent to $1.52 billion. The average securities clearing fee for the quarter was 2.68 basis points, comparable with the preceding quarter, SGX said.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose for a fifth straight month, gaining 7.3 per cent month on month to 3,165.34. On a quarterly basis, the STI rose 11.3 per cent, more than doubling the first-quarter advance of the FTSE Asia-Pacific Index.

Equity fundraisings and amounts issued from bond listings reached $50.8 billion last month, the highest amount since February last year. The number of new bond listings on the SGX climbed 37 per cent on the month to 86. Quarter on quarter, total fundraising was up 63 per cent at $121.5 billion.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the SGX rose 3 per cent in market turnover value to $516 million month on month. On a quarterly basis, ETF turnover advanced 34 per cent to $1.6 billion, with $8.99 billion of combined assets under management of all 30 listed ETFs.

Total derivatives traded volume increased by 31 per cent on the month to 23.2 million contracts last month, the highest since July last year. Quarter on quarter, derivatives volume was up 13 per cent to 60.6 million contracts.

SGX's derivatives franchise performed strongly on the back of broad-based volume gains last month across multiple asset classes in the quarter. The average fee per contract for equity, currency and commodity derivatives for the quarter rose 19 per cent to $1.38.

Trading volume in the foreign exchange markets gained 27 per cent on the month to 2.9 million contracts last month. Volume was up 20 per cent to 7.3 million contracts on the quarter.

SGX set monthly volume records for its USD/SGD, INR/USD and USD/INR (USD) futures last month, reflecting strong demand among global institutional investors to risk-manage Asian currencies, according to the report.

Commodity derivatives volume continued to grow, rising 39 per cent month on month to 2.5 million contracts last month. On a quarterly basis, volume rose by 17 per cent to 6.4 million as the economic resurgence in China since the start of this year buoyed the dry-bulk market.

THE BUSINESS TIMES