Tweeting Trump has brought markets to life: SGX executive

[SINGAPORE] Donald Trump's election win and the US president-elect's penchant for off-the-cuff social media posts has been a boon for financial markets, said Chew Sutat, head of equities and fixed income at Singapore Exchange Ltd.

"With Trump, what you see is greater uncertainty, and the opportunity to trade different sectors," Mr Chew said in an interview on Bloomberg Television on Wednesday. "We're really happy that some of the animal spirits are back."

The Singapore exchange's average daily value of shares traded has risen to S$1.32 billion since Mr Trump's surprising Nov 8 win over Democrat Hillary Clinton. That's 28 per cent higher than the daily average during the first 10 months of the year. Mr Chew said Mr Trump's unpredictability is keeping markets on their toes.

"He tweets every day," Mr Chew said. "We don't know what's going to happen, but things are going to happen and traders like that." Shares of SGX were down 6.8 per cent this year as of Tuesday's close, although the stock has risen 2 per cent since since the election.

Mr Chew said that SGX has seen S$2.5 billion raised in initial public offerings this year, much of which came from real-estate-investment trusts. Manulife US Real Estate Investment Trust's debut in May was this year's second-biggest in the city, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The sector is now a "cluster" on SGX's market, Mr Chew said. The total value of Reits listed on the exchange is S$84 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

"What we're excited about is that Asian REIT exchange-traded fund products are starting to get listed in Singapore because they reflect marketplace demand and investors' interests," he said.

BLOOMBERG