Singapore market capitalisation down S$102b in 2015

THE Year of the Sheep in 2015 turned into a slaughter as Singapore stocks registered their worst showing since 2011.

At the end of the half-day trading session on Dec 31, the total value of 764 companies listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) tracked by The Business Times was S$855 billion, down S$102 billion from a year ago.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) closed the year at 2,882.73 points, down 14 per cent from 3,365.15 points at end-2014 and 19 per cent from a mid-April peak of 3,539.95 points.

The last time stocks were down this much was in 2011, when the market fell 17 per cent. Those invested in offshore and marine companies this year fared much worse: They would have found themselves down a whopping 50-70 per cent.

Overall, brokers are expecting the STI to trade between 3,000 and 3,200 points by end-2016.

Favoured sectors include property and transport.