Singapore stock market's malaise runs deep and is multi-fold

IT would be somewhat unkind to conclude that this week's market stoppage - the second in a month and third this year - is simply another dismal chapter for a market in malaise. But there is no denying that something is amiss. The numbers don't lie.

Stockmarket turnover fell 21 per cent in the financial year ended June 30, 2014, to S$286 billion, according to Singapore Exchange (SGX). That is the lowest turnover since fiscal 2006, when the size of the total market was less than what it is worth today. Looking at turnover as a proportion of market capitalisation, the average turnover velocity in FY2014 was just 40 per cent, compared to 71 per cent back in FY2007. Average daily stockmarket turnover for the first 10 months of this year fell 29.8 per cent to S$1.06 billion from the same period last year.

Brokerage firms are reporting sliding earnings amid falling volumes and trading interest. Some two-thirds of all the 3,900 trading representatives (TRs) here barely transact two trades a day. And the top 10 per cent control about 80 per cent of the average daily business.