The Singapore Exchange has chalked up another active month in May with daily trading value hitting the highest level since October 2007. Securities daily average value for the month surged by 79% to $2.4 billion.
Thanks to rising volume and value, Singapore's market cap overtook Jakarta's - which is down by a third year to date - to become the largest in southeast Asia.
Derivatives did well too, with traded volume in May up 20% y-o-y to 30.5 million contracts, while daily average volume (DAV) gained 27% to 1.6 million contracts, the third-largest on record.
The Straits Times Index, which measures how the leading blue chips move, was up 3.5% month-on-month. It reached a peak of 5,072 points on May 19.
Small and mid caps did better, with SDAV (excluding REITs) up 24% m-o-m and more than four times y-o-y.
Institutional investors remained net buyers of small- and mid-caps for a fifth consecutive month, bringing total inflows over the past 12 months to over $800 million.
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Institutional funds were active across the board, recording incremental S$184 million m-o-m growth.
Retail investors continued with more interest too, cumulative net inflows by retail investors exceeding $1.5 billion over the first five months of this year, reflecting sustained interest in Singapore equities.
There was an IPO in May: co-working space operator JustCo Holdings.
Three Catalist companies – Lum Chang Creations, CNMC Goldmine Holdings, and Koh Brothers Eco Engineering – announced bids to transfer their listing to the Mainboard.
Hong Leong Asia and Aspial Lifestyle raised $316 million in total via placements.
