Retail investors booked $2.62 billion of net inflow into Singapore stocks in 2025, bringing net retail inflows for the past 6 years to $17 billion, according to the Singapore Exchange’s market update on Jan 14.
DBS Group Holdings (DBS), United Overseas Bank (UOB) and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) led the net retail inflow, chalking up combined net inflow of $3.88 billion.
Excluding the STI banks, the rest of the Singapore stock market saw a $1.26 billion net retail outflows over the year, comprising $817 million in 1HFY2025 and $448 million in 2HFY2025.
The other top stocks that attracted the largest net retail inflow in 2025 include Mapletree Industrial Trust, CapitaLand Investment, Sembcorp Industries, ComfortDelGro, Genting Singapore, Mapletree Logistics Trust, Singapore Post, NTT DC REIT, Thai Beverage, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, CapitaLand Ascott Trust, Keppel DC REIT, Parkway Life REIT, Frasers Centrepoint Trust, SATS, YZJ Shipbuilding and Olam Group.
For DBS, retail buying intensified during April 1 to April 14, 2025, which saw a retail net of $826 million, while VWAP declined to $40.39.
SGX Group says that DBS has continued to book new all-time highs in early 2026.
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Some other notable stocks include NTT DC REIT, which booked $88 million in net retail flow for the remainder of 2HFY2025 after its listing on July 14. The REIT booked $8.8 million in average daily trading turnover for the duration of 2025 that it was listed.
SGX Group notes that retail investors net sold $350 million in City Developments (CDL) from April 10 to year-end 2025.
The VWAP of CDL from Jan 2, 2024 to April 9, 2025 was $5.52, and increased to $6.37 for the rest of 2025. “Early January 2026 has seen this trend persist, with another S$58 million net sold by retail between Jan 2 and Jan 13 at a VWAP of $8.60. This means in just nine months, retail investors have unwound more than 18 months of buying,” the group notes.
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Finally, SGX notes that retail investors were net sellers of $24 million in PropNex shares, alternating between net selling and net buying each quarter.
For 2025, STI, REIT, and APAC financial-focused ETFs also accounted for six of the top 10 net purchased ETFs by retail investors, driving a combined net inflow of S$591 million in retail purchases for the month.
REIT ETFs led the group, with Lion-Phillip S-REIT ETF and Amova-STC Asia Ex Japan REIT ETF capturing the highest flows as investors embraced a buy-and-hold strategy amid a lower interest rate environment.
Shares in SGX Group closed 6 cents higher or 0.339% up at $17.78 on Jan 14.
