SGX daily securities traded value hits 6-month high in February

THE daily average traded value of securities rose to a six-month high of S$1.06 billion in February this year, with higher trading activity in IT and real estate sectors, according to the Singapore Exchange's (SGX) latest market statistics released on Friday.

This was 8 per cent higher than a month ago, although it was down 39 per cent from February 2018.

The total securities market turnover value was at S$19.1 billion, down 12 per cent month-on-month, and down 42 per cent year-on-year over 18 trading days, February being a shorter month.

There were 22 trading days in January this year and 19 in February 2018.

The market turnover value of exchange-traded funds was S$103 million, down 52 per cent month-on-month and down 70 per cent year-on-year.

February recorded just one Catalist listing - that of TSH Corporation, which completed its acquisition of Sloshed!, a company in the business of operating bars and distribution of alcohol, for about S$19.4 million in a reverse takeover deal.

All in all in February, there were 100 new bond listings, raising S$42.87 billion.

On the derivatives front, trading volume also hit an all-time record, with 1.11 million lots changing hands daily.

The total traded volume of derivatives was 18.2 million, down 2 per cent month-on-month and up 1 per cent year-on-year.

Notably, FTSE China A50 Index Futures volume was 8.62 million, up 15 per cent from January and 21 per cent higher than a year ago.

The traded volume of most other derivatives fell, particularly iron ore derivatives, which recorded a volume of 1.18 million, down 33 per cent from January, although it was 26 per cent higher than a year ago.