To manage rising risks in currency and commodity markets, total FX futures traded volume increased 23% y-o-y to 2.1 million contracts, climbing for a third consecutive month. Notably, SGX’s USD/CNH Futures traded volume surged 31% y-o-y to 803,839 contracts in July.
In the ferrous market, forward freight derivatives traded volume jumped 60% m-o-m to 95,000 contracts, aided by volatility.
In July, total securities market turnover value rose 11% m-o-m to $24.3 billion, while securities daily average value (SDAV) dipped 8% to $1.1 billion.
Market capitalisation weighted average total returns for the overall Singapore stock market remained unchanged, compared with the Straits Times Index’s (STI) -0.2% return.
Consumer Staples, Materials and Banks, which rose 3.6%, 3.1% and 1.4% respectively, were the top performing sectors for the month. REITs posted nine straight months of positive returns, with year-to-date total returns at +21.2%.
Market turnover value of ETFs was $189 million, down 8% m-o-m but up 1% y-o-y.
July saw the listing of SGX’s third pure-play US office REIT – Prime US REIT – which was the largest IPO in Singapore year-to-date, raising the highest amount of funds in Asean this year.
Funds raised from two new equity listings amounted to $844.1 million, while the amount issued by 128 new bond listings totalled $61.4 billion. This brought the overall funds raised by issuers to $62 billion, a 70% increase y-o-y.
The Federal Reserve’s lowering of interest rates for the first time in a decade could lead to further uncertainty and flight to safety in coming weeks. In a low-yield environment, activity in REITs may also rise as investors continue to search for yield, says SGX.
Shares in SGX closed 9 cents higher at $8.11 on Wednesday.
