Singapore Exchange (SGX) Group said it saw increased participation in its securities in December as the market’s benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) saw a 17-year peak during the month.
The bellwether index rose by 1.3% in December to 3,787.60, making it the best performer across Asean.
The STI delivered total returns of 23.5% for the year, representing its best performance in over a decade.
In December, SGX reported total securities market turnover value of $20.0 billion, 5% higher y-o-y, but 33.57% lower m-o-m. November reported higher trading volumes amid the anticipation of the market review by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the start of lower interest rates.
Securities daily average (SDAV) in December inched up by 0.3% y-o-y but fell by 33.57% m-o-m as well.
Derivatives traded volume increased by 10% y-o-y but fell by 11.11% m-o-m to 23.2 million contracts. The y-o-y increase was attributed to the interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve and new stimulus measures by the Chinese government.
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During the year, derivatives traded volume was up by 18% y-o-y to 298.4 million contracts, an all-time high.
Derivatives daily average volume (DDAV) stood at 1.09 million contracts, 5% higher y-o-y but 14.0% lower m-o-m.
Among the derivatives, traded volume for the SGX FTSE China A50 Index Futures rose by 14% y-o-y to 8.5 million contracts, bringing 2024’s tally to a record 103.2 million contracts.
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Volume for the SGX FTSE Taiwan Index Futures increased by 11% y-o-y to a record 18.6 million contracts. This was attributed to the sustained artificial intelligence (AI) investment theme, which boosted Taiwan’s technology- and semiconductor-heavy equities market.
Including contracts covering key markets such as India, Japan and Singapore, total equities index futures traded volume on SGX Equity Derivatives rose 4% y-o-y in December to 13 million contracts, up 8% for 2024 at 167.8 million contracts.
Traded volume for the SGX Indian rupee (INR)/US dollar (USD) foreign exchange (FX) Futures increased by 76% y-o-y to a record 1.8 million contracts in December.
The volume of SGX USD/Chinese yuan (CNH) FX Futures increased by 24% y-o-y in December to 3.4 million contracts.
DAV rose to more than US$25.2 billion ($34.49 billion) notional for three days leading up to the contract’s roll, ahead of the Fed’s December rate cuts.
Total commodities traded volume climbed 31% in 2024 with over 65 million lots cleared, attributed to record annual volumes in benchmark iron ore, SGX SICOM rubber as well as petrochemicals.
Iron ore derivatives volume gained 32% in 2024 to 5.8 billion metric tonnes, which is about 3.7 times the underlying seaborne iron ore market.
In December, SGX had a total of 617 listed securities, down from 618 in November and 632 in December 2023.
Shares in SGX closed 21 cents lower or 1.66% down at $12.47 on Jan 9.
