SGX set to harvest seeds sown in new businesses, IPO pipeline as markets recover

THE Singapore Exchange (SGX) may have fallen far since the turn of the decade, but the various seeds it has planted in the last few years should put it in good stead as it enters a positive but highly uncertain arc in the business cycle.

Perhaps the single biggest lament from Singapore stock market traders is that liquidity just has not been what it used to be. There is some basis for that sentiment. The year-to-date average daily traded value on the stock market stood at about S$1.19 billion as at end-September. While that was almost a 10 per cent increase from the daily average in the whole of 2016, it represented just three-quarters of the S$1.6 billion daily average in 2010. In fact, daily average turnover has not exceeded S$1.2 billion in any year since 2013.

But there are promising signs suggesting that the multi-year decline could be coming to an end.