[SINGAPORE] The total securities market turnover value on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) increased 25 per cent year on year to S$29.7 billion in March, with the Straits Times Index (STI) and volumes across multiple asset classes hitting record levels.
March’s total market turnover volume fell 23 per cent to 26.8 billion shares, from 34.7 billion shares in the same month a year ago, said the bourse in its monthly market statistics report on Tuesday (Apr 8).
The securities daily average value reached a three-year high in March, rising 25 per cent on year to about S$1.5 billion. Derivatives traded volume increased 14 per cent to 27.4 million contracts, with derivatives daily average volume climbing 12 per cent to 1.3 million contracts.
The STI rose above 4,000 for the first time on Mar 28. It generated a 5 per cent gain over the January-to-March quarter, topping stock benchmarks across Asean.
Meanwhile, SGX noted that small and mid-cap stocks continued to garner investor interest with another consecutive month of net institutional inflows in March.
The month also saw higher trading of securities products, with SGX Securities broadening its offering of Singapore Depository Receipts (SDRs) by launching three Hong Kong underlying assets – Xiaomi, Meituan and Ping An – on Mar 5.
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SGX Group also listed the Lion-China Merchants CSI Dividend Index exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Mar 28. This marked the ninth ETF under the ETF product links between Singapore and China and brought combined assets under management to more than S$700 million.
For the January-to-March quarter, the combined turnover value of SDRs, daily leverage certificates, structured warrants and ETFs was up 13.6 per cent from the previous three-month period at S$3.6 billion.
On a month-on-month basis, the daily average volume of the SGX MSCI Singapore Index Futures rose 13 per cent in March to a notional US$1.8 billion, while month-end open interest climbed to a notional US$6.4 billion.
SGX noted that these were record highs, with the increases demonstrating “growing investor confidence in Singapore’s equity market, even during times of volatility”.
India equity derivatives had their best performance in March. The volume of Gift Nifty 50 Index Futures increased 10 per cent year on year to two million contracts, with daily average volume up 11 per cent at 107,320 lots, amounting to a notional US$5 billion.
For the January-to-March quarter, volume climbed to a record 5.9 million contracts, driven by a resurgence in Indian equities, said SGX. Open interest rose 7 per cent over the previous three-month period to 213,491 lots, which amounted to a notional US$10 billion, “underscoring sustained growth for a key offering from SGX Equity Derivatives”.
In forex, the volume of SGX INR/USD FX Futures jumped 80 per cent year on year to 2.4 million contracts. This lifted total futures volume on SGX FX by 53 per cent to 6.6 million contracts.
For the January-to-March quarter, the volume of SGX INR/USD FX Futures rose 31 per cent from the previous three-month period to 6.8 million contracts, while the volume of total FX futures increased 8 per cent to a record 18.5 million contracts.
For commodities, the volume of dairy derivatives reached a single-day record of 31,000 lots on Mar 19, with daily average volume up 82 per cent on year at a new high of 4,484 lots.
“The gains were driven by record options volume of 41,429 lots, as market participants increasingly leveraged advanced strategies to manage risk and capture opportunities,” said SGX.
Petrochemicals traded volume climbed 47 per cent year on year in March to the equivalent of 2.7 million tonnes “as volatility in physical prices drove hedging”, SGX added. The average open interest for March reached a new high of 2.8 million tonnes and hit a record of eight million tonnes for the January-to-March quarter.
Among the petrochemicals suite, benzene contracts achieved a record monthly volume of 1.1 million tonnes in March.
Shares of SGX ended 2 per cent or S$0.23 higher at S$12.02 on Tuesday, before the report’s release.
