SGX climbs to all-time high as retail interest returns to local stock market; Seatrium sinks

SINGAPORE - The Singapore Exchange hit a high of around $17.90 last week before closing on Oct 10 at $17.51, as efforts to revitalise the local bourse gained momentum.

Retail participation on the SGX reached a three-year high, while the number of initial public offerings has risen in 2025, said SGX Group chief executive Loh Boon Chye at the company’s annual general meeting on Oct 9.

Mr Loh told shareholders that retail participation in the recent IPOs has “trended above the market average”.

He added that trading momentum for small- and mid-cap counters in the recent quarter has grown, with the average daily trading value more than doubling from a year earlier.

The stronger trading momentum is backed by larger volumes of institutional capital being directed into Singapore equities, particularly those beyond the 30 blue-chip stocks on the Straits Times Index (STI), said Mr Loh.

In the first week of October, institutional investors like funds and banks bought $481.3 million more Singapore stocks than they sold, according to SGX. Mid-cap stocks like Soilbuild Construction, Addvalue Tech, InnoTek, Marco Polo Marine, PC Partner, Boustead, ValueMax, Hong Leong Asia, Frencken and Tuan Sing saw strong buying interest.

On Oct 6, Fullerton Fund Management

launched the first retail fund

under a plan by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to allocate $5 billion to fund managers for seeding investments in promising mid-cap companies.

The new fund, called Fullerton Singapore Value-Up, will invest exclusively in Singapore-listed securities, covering small-, mid- and large-cap stocks, as well as IPOs.

More IPO activity

Mr Loh said the bourse expects more listings for the rest of 2025, noting that three companies – Coliwoo, Leong Guan and Infinity Development – have announced plans to list in the past two weeks.

Additionally, real estate developer Soon Hock Enterprise on Oct 8 launched its mainboard IPO of around 21.6 million shares at 58 cents each.

This includes 18.8 million shares offered by way of international placement to institutional investors and 2.8 million offered to the Singapore public.

Private and cornerstone investors will take up an additional 61.4 million new shares, valuing the entire deal at $48.1 million.

Net proceeds from the IPO, which are expected to be around $34.6 million, will be used partly to fund the redevelopment of its 20 Shaw Road property, as well as for buying new land sites and buildings for development and redevelopment.

Soon Hock will have a market capitalisation of around $180 million post-listing. It also plans to distribute dividends of at least 25 per cent of its net profit from the listing date to Dec 31, and for its 2026 financial year.

It has been involved in the launch of over 1,200 units of strata-titled industrial properties and has marketed, sold and delivered about 900 strata-titled units across industrial and commercial zones in Singapore.

Upcoming projects include Stellar@Tampines, which has pre-sold 168 units, and Skye@Tuas, which has received interest for one floor ahead of pre-sales expected to be launched in 2026.

There have been nine new listings in the July-September quarter, raising over $2.2 billion.

These included NTT DC Reit (real estate investment trust), Centurion Accommodation Reit and Info-Tech Systems on the mainboard, as well as MetaOptics, Lum Chang Creations and Dezign Format Group on the Catalist board.

China Medical System and AvePoint had secondary listings on the mainboard, while Skylink listed via a reverse takeover on the Catalist board.

Property revitalisation specialist Lum Chang Creations is among the best-performing IPOs in 2025. Its shares closed on Oct 10 at 52 cents, more than double its listing price of 25 cents in July.

Seatrium sinks, Sembcorp rebounds

Shares of Seatrium started the week trading steadily, but tumbled by 6.6 per cent to $2.28 on Oct 10 after the offshore rig builder announced that its customer, Maersk Offshore Wind, had sent it a notice of termination a day earlier for a US$475 million (S$616.3 million) contract to build a vessel that is already 98.9 per cent completed.

The stock was the most heavily traded by value, with 57.2 million shares changing hands.

Seatrium said it will explore viable solutions and review the validity of the notice of termination, as well as the allegations within. It is also evaluating its legal and commercial options.

The company did not comment when asked why the contract is being terminated and how much of the vessel has already been paid for.

The once-promising US wind energy industry has come under attack by US President Donald Trump, who has cancelled millions in funding for offshore wind projects.

In contrast, Sembcorp Industries rose, closing Oct 10 at $6.41, up 2.4 per cent through the week.

Sembcorp on Oct 8 signed an agreement to acquire ReNew Sun Bright, the solar energy unit of India’s ReNew Energy Global, for about $246 million. The move will expand its renewable energy capacity in India to 6.9GW. ReNew Sun Bright operates a 300MW solar power plant in the Indian state of Rajasthan.

The deal comes as India is seeking to raise its clean energy capacity from 165GW today to 500GW by 2030.

Sembcorp last week also resumed its share buybacks, scooping up 510,000 shares priced between $6.20 and $6.40.

The company has been buying back its shares since late August, after prices tumbled from record highs of around $7.80 to $6.

Other market movers

Oil palm plantation stocks listed on SGX saw positive movements last week, with the shares of First Resources, Indofood Agri Resources, Bumitama Agri and Kencana Agri rising between 1 per cent and 12 per cent through the week.

Shares of Wilmar International, which cultivates and processes palm oil, among its other businesses, also rose, closing on Oct 10 at $2.94, up 2.4 per cent through the week.

Some analysts have flagged the sector’s potential for upside, citing the dwindling supply of palm oil and rising prices over the next few years, as well as easing environmental, social and governance risks.

Keppel Reit fell 2.9 per cent last week, closing on Oct 10 at $1.

The Reit on Oct 8 announced an agreement to acquire a 75 per cent interest in a freehold retail mall in Sydney for A$393.8 million (S$331.3 million) in a move to diversify into the retail sector.

Top Ryde City Shopping Centre will be its first pure-play retail asset.

Keppel Reit said it expects to benefit from the attractive yields Australian retail malls have to offer, with suburban retail assets demonstrating resilience and strong growth potential supported by long-term consumption and population increases.

Analysts were divided on their views over the move, with UOB Kay Hian maintaining its buy recommendation, and RHB downgrading its outlook on the stock.

What to look out for this week

Soon Hock’s IPO will close at noon on Oct 14 and the shares are expected to begin listing and trading at 9am on Oct 16.

Gold-related stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed on the SGX, such as the SPDR Gold Shares ETF and CNMC Goldmine, could move further if the US government remains shut, as economic uncertainty and market volatility rise amid speculation that the US Federal Reserve may cut interest rates.

Gold hit a record high above US$4,000 an ounce for the first time on Oct 8.