Five indicators suggest Singapore market is not overheated

DESPITE the uncertainty surrounding the Trump presidency, fear of the once-in-ten years crash among other things, 2017 turned out to be not too shabby after all - as far as the markets are concerned. The Straits Times Index (STI) advanced 18.1 per cent. With dividends reinvested, the gain is a whopping 22 per cent. Given the pretty strong performance, many investors are fearful of venturing into the market now.

Today, we'll take a look at five indicators which suggest that Singapore market is not overheated yet.

One, the STI's current level relative to its component stocks' average earnings over the last seven years is at the lower end in nearly forty years. As you can see from Chart 1, every time the P/7-year average earnings hits a high of close to 30 times, the market will take a sharp tumble. We are currently at about 13 times.