Singapore will need to keep the flywheel of liquidity and new listings going to fulfil its goal of building a vibrant equity market, says Chee Hong Tat, minister for national development and deputy chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
“Our journey to build a more compelling and attractive Singapore equity market has started well in 2025,” says Chee. “All stakeholders with MAS, SGX and our partners must continue to work hard to build on what was done last year to give the initiatives a bigger boost this year.”
In his remarks, Chee noted that Singapore was seeing more trading activity on its bourse. The average daily traded value of securities on SGX were up by almost 20% y-o-y, reaching almost $1.8 billion in November 2025, before the usual year-end market slowdown. The average daily traded value of securities for the entire year was the highest since 2010 while the total market value of listed companies crossed the $1 trillion mark.
“Last year, STI’s total returns was over 28%,” Chee says. “If we take a longer, five-year view, its total returns was over 100% in Sing-dollar terms, outperforming other regional markets.”
See also: Singapore’s family-run firms lack pay transparency, study shows
Loh notes that the STI’s total return stands shoulder to shoulder with leading global benchmarks such as the S&P500 and Nasdaq. “Over time, the STI has delivered consistently respectable returns, underpinned by earnings growth and supported by more active capital management by listed companies.”
Similar gains were also seen in small- and mid-cap Singapore stocks. Turnover for that segment was up by over 40% y-o-y and the iEdge Singapore Next 50 Index, which tracks the next 50 largest companies besides the top 30 blue chips in the STI, had a total return of more than 25% in 2025.
Monday’s celebration comes after a flurry of activity by the government to shore up Singapore’s stock market.
A review group set up by MAS to come up with measures to revitalise Singapore’s stock market released its final report on Nov 19. The group, which was first set up in August 2024, proposed a variety of measures including a $5 billion Equities Market Development Programme (EQDP) fund to channel capital into the local equities market.
So far, $3.95 out of the $5 billion has been placed with nine asset managers: Avanda Investment Management, Fullerton Fund Management, JP Morgan Asset Management, Amova Asset Management (formerly Nikko Asset Management), AR Capital, BlackRock, Eastspring Investments, Lion Global Investors, and Manulife Investment Management.
Other measures include establishing a dual-listing bridge between SGX and Nasdaq as well as a “Value Unlock” programme to help listed companies bolster their capabilities in investor relations, corporate strategy and capital optimisation.
Drawing more companies to list on SGX remains a top priority, says Chee. Singapore’s IPO activity last year was the highest since 2019, with more than $2.4 billion in total funds raised.
According to Chee, revitalising the Singapore stock market will bring about other benefits like boosting the vibrancy of the country’s enterprise financing ecosystem and hastening its shift toward an innovation driven economy.
“It offers a reliable exit option for private equity and venture capital investors to realise their investments,” Chee says. “This gives them confidence to recycle their capital into the next generation of new start-ups and growth companies.”
Loh says the recovery in IPO activity in 2025 is an “encouraging start” and the group looks forward to welcoming more listings.
To stay ahead of Singapore and the region’s corporate and economic trends, click here for Latest Section
STI turns 60
The STI was originally known as the Straits Times Industrial Index at its inception in 1966, before it was rebranded as the STI in 1998. The STI started off with 55 constituents, but was eventually streamlined down to cover Singapore’s top 30 blue chips. The index covers approximately 85% of the Singapore stock market’s total capitalisation as at August.
Of its 30 constituents, 12 have been a part of the STI since 1998. They include the three local banks, DBS Group Holdings, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) and United Overseas Bank (UOB), government-linked companies such as Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) and Singapore Airlines (SIA), as well as foreign companies like Jardine Matheson and Hongkong Land. Notably, the three banks make up about half the total weight of the STI.
On Dec 22, the Straits Times Index (STI) crossed the 4,600 point mark. DBS Group Research analysts Yeo Kee Yan and Foo Fang Boon say in a Dec 11 report that they expect the STI to reach 4,880 points by end-2026. Earlier, DBS Group Research’s group head Timothy Wong says he expects the index to rise to nearly 10,000 points by 2040.
JP Morgan analysts Khoi Vu and Rajiv Batra were equally bullish on the STI’s prospects with a 5,000 target for September 2026 before raising it to 6,000 points.
