Photo: Bloomberg

The total securities market value for the month of December 2020 came in at $24.39 billion over 22 trading days, according to Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) monthly market statistics report released at market close on Jan 11.

This was 21% higher y-o-y, but 32.7% lower than the preceding month of November’s value of $36.24 billion over 21 trading days.

According to SGX, the higher figures were attributable to the optimism of a global recovery as Covid-19 vaccines were rolled out in major economies around the world.

Securities daily average value (SDAV) fell 35.8% m-o-m from November’s $1.73 billion, while gaining 15% y-o-y to $1.11 billion.

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Turnover for exchange-traded funds (ETF) spiked 131% y-o-y to $350 million, as investor demand for ETFs grows in 2020, notes the exchange.

Turnover of structured warrants and daily leveraged certificates (DLC) climbed 4% y-o-y to $495 million.

There was one new ETF listing – the Lion-OCBC Securities Hang Seng TECH ETF on Dec 10, 2020, which enhanced investor access to the fastest-growing Chinese technology companies.

See: Lion-OCBC Securities Hang Seng TECH ETF now listed on SGX

 

The Lion-OCBC Securities Hang Seng TECH ETF had month-end assets under management (AUM) of $92 million, compared to $64 million at listing.

For 2020, the combined AUM of all ETFs listed on SGX increased 57% y-o-y to $8.6 billion, compared to the $5.5 billion in 2019.

Turnover for all ETFs was up 2.5 times at $5.4 billion, in line with trading activity in the broader securities market. This was attributable to investors focusing on stocks that were most impacted by the containment measures brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

There were two new Mainboard listings – Credit Bureau Asia Limited and G.H.Y Culture & Media Holding – in December 2020, which grew 41% and 3% respectively. The growth outpaced the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI)’s 1.3% uptick.

See also: Credit Bureau Asia opens on SGX Mainboard at $1.15 and GHY Culture and Media IPO 9.6 times subscribed

 

Catalist-listed Aedge Group also held its gains into the new year.

In the same month, SGX listed the onshore bond listing of China Development Bank, making it the first time that China onshore renminbi (RMB) bonds were listed on the exchange.

The overall value of new bond listings reached $25.1 billion, up 85% m-o-m.

Total derivatives traded volume rose 6% y-o-y to 18.4 million contracts. M-o-m, total volume dipped slightly at 1.89% from November’s volume of 18.8 million contracts.

Equity index futures traded volume climbed 4% y-o-y to 13.2 million contracts. This was led by a 24% increase in SGX Nifty 50 Index Futures and a 19% upswing in SGX FTSE China A50 Index Futures.

Foreign exchange (forex) futures traded volume on SGX increased marginally y-o-y to 2.1 million contracts in December 2020.

SGX USD/CNH Futures climbed 11% to 872,511 contracts as the RMB appreciated further on the back of China’s economic recovery. This also came amid expectations that relations between the US and China would improve following the US elections in November 2020.

SGX INR/USD Futures traded volume fell 12% y-o-y to 1.1 million contracts in December 2020 amid reduced market volatility.

Iron ore derivatives traded volume on SGX increased 45% y-o-y to 2 million contracts in December on the back of strong steel demand in China. This led a 45% gain in total commodity derivatives traded volume to 2.4 million – the highest since March 2020.

Forward freight derivatives traded volume rose 51% y-o-y to 84,036 contracts in December. Petrochemicals volume surged 134% y-o-y to 2,341 contracts.

SGX SICOM rubber futures, the world’s pricing bellwether for natural rubber, climbed 10% to 149,254 contracts.

Total market capitalisation value of 697 listed companies stood at $862.1 billion as at end December 2020.

Shares in SGX closed 4 cents higher or 0.4% up at $10.04 on Jan 11.