SGX daily share trading down by modest 0.2% in March

Daily share trading activity on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) eased in March from year-ago levels, while derivatives trading continued to grow.

The securities daily average value (SDAV) slipped by 0.2 per cent year-on-year to S$1.1 billion in March, according to data by SGX. The average traded volume of securities experienced a sharper fall, by 38.4 per cent, to 1.4 billion shares.

Turnover velocity, a measurement that is closely tracked by SGX and that reflects how often a share is traded on average, fell to 37 per cent from 40 per cent a year earlier.

The derivatives market had more excitement. Average daily trading volume in derivatives grew 46.2 per cent year-on-year in March to 678,126 contracts. A total of 3.3 million open-interest positions were left overnight in March, a 5 per cent year-on-year improvement.

The FTSE China A50 Index futures were a key contributor to growth, with March's 7 million traded contracts more than double the year-ago 2.5 million volume.