Individual investors are drawn by high dividend yields offered by the nation’s stocks, “and they are sitting at home, they have nothing to do,” said Aik Hong Ng, deputy head of Phillip Investor Centre, a unit of Phillip Securities Pte. Some are using creative ways to take advantage of low valuations as well, using advances on credit cards and loading up on debt and leverage to purchase more shares.
Online brokerage apps with low transaction fees also helped boost the retail trading activity, according to Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, head of consumer sector equity research at Tellimer.
