Output from Singapore’s semiconductors sector (accounting for 17% of total manufacturing activity) increased 41.7% YoY in October 2016, building on the 35.9% expansion seen in September. The global semiconductor industry also saw resurgent sales momentum.
The Singapore stock market has seen mixed returns across sectors post US-elections, with evidence of sectoral rotation to cyclical plays from less cyclical stocks. Singapore’s Consumer Staples Sector has remained relatively resilient despite its defensive nature, averaging a total return of 0.9% in the month-to-date, in line with STI’s 1.0%, but outperforming the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Consumer Staples Index’s -4.0%.
Post-US elections, the SGX S-REIT Index has corrected 4.5%, underperforming the flat performance of the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI), but in line with that of the MSCI World REIT Index, largely due to rising expectations of an interest rate hike by the Fed next month.
On Wednesday, trading volume of COSCO Corporation (Singapore) was almost triple its three month average volume, and trading volume of Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings was more than double its three month average volume. On the close, the two stocks delivered respective session gains of 5.9% and 5.2%.
Singapore's three listed banks, DBS, OCBC and UOB averaged a marginal gain yesterday amidst declines in the broader markets. This was on the back of a 4.0% average gain last week, in contrast to the Bloomberg Asia Pacific Banks Index gain of 3.4%.
The unexpected election of Donald Trump as US President has sparked increased volatility and uncertainty in global markets this week. A Trump victory initially triggered a knee-jerk collapse in stock market futures and a surge in gold prices as investors fled to haven assets, but since then, global equity and commodity markets have registered mixed performances.
The three SGX-listed gold mining stocks have averaged 4.6% gain on Wednesday, ranging from +2.9% for Anchor Resources to 5.9% for Wilton Resources. All three SGX-listed gold mining stocks are at different stages of exploration and production and have all provided recent updates to their operations in the past fortnight. The SPDR® Gold Shares ETF gained 0.9% (1.5% in SGD) yesterday, bringing the one-month SGD equivalent total return to 4.8% and YTD gain to 19.2%.
The SGX All Healthcare Index has generated a 6.4% total return in the year-to-date, and maintains a dividend yield of 5.9%. This compares with the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Asia ex-Japan Health Care Index, which has declined 2.4% in Singapore dollar terms over the same period, and maintains a yield of 1.2%.
Three Consumer Staples stocks – Super Group, Japfa and SunMoon Food Company – and one Consumer Discretionary stock, Genting Singapore, were among the 10 biggest volume leaders last week.
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