• On the move in early July, the STI posted a 2.1% decline during the first week, and a 3.5% gain the following week. Global currency, bond and stock markets saw swings on the back of fluid outlooks for US interest rates going into 2024, with China-related developments also impacting the APAC arena.

• Within the STI, Mapletree Logistics Trust, UOL and SATS outpaced the STI, averaging 5.9% gains, while Sembcorp Industries, Hongkong Land and Jardine Matheson led the STI decliners over the two weeks. STI stocks that posted gains over each of the two weeks included UOL, SATS, Singapore Airlines and City Developments.

• Among the 100 most traded Singapore-listed stocks this year, there were another 17 stocks that posted gains in each of the first two weeks of July, with one-third of these stocks representing the Industrials Sector: Acesian Partners, SingPost, ComfortDelGro, Dyna-Mac and Samudera Shipping, in addition to the aforementioned Singapore Airlines and SATS.

• Catalist-listed Acesian Partners was the strongest performing actively traded stock for the first week. Seatrium was the strongest performer for the second week of July while announcing it had secured a Green Trade Finance Facility from OCBC worth an estimated S$1.04 billion. Seatrium reports 1HFY23 results prior to the 28 July open.

For the first week of July (3-7 July), the STI declined 2.1%, before rebounding 3.5% over the second week of the month (10-14 July). The overall 2-week STI gain amounted to 1.3% and brought the 2023 year to 14 July total return to 2.5%.

On the global interest rate front, focus on the US Fed Funds Rate going into 2024 saw expectations that the band would be above 5.25% to 5.50% after the 13 Dec FOMC move from 34% on 30 June up to 44% on 6 July, then back to 23% on 14 July. This has brought the US Dollar Index to below the key 100 threshold, while 2-year UST yields declined from 4.98% on 6 July to 4.77% on 14 July. At the same time, low expectations for the 6 to 9 July trip by the US Treasury Secretary to China weighed relevant APAC stock markets just prior to the trip, provided a low base for the STI going into the second week.

• During the first week of July,
  • Catalist-listed Acesian Partners was the most defensive stock of Singapore’s actively traded stocks generating a 10.2% total return. The next strongest performers over the first week were Keppel Pacific Oak US REIT, First Resources, Japfa and SingPost.
  • Meanwhile, Sembcorp, OUE Commercial REIT, Tianjin Pharmaceutical Da Ren Tang, CDL Hospitality Trusts and Keppel Corporation led the overall broad declines over the first week of July. Of these latter five stocks that led the decliners among the most actives, the three companies, Sembcorp, Tianjin Pharmaceutical Da Ren Tang, and Keppel Corporation have been among the six best performing stocks of the actively traded Singapore stocks so far this year.
• For the second week of July,
  • Seatrium led the rally with a 16.0% gain, with Rex International, Food Empire, NIO and Catalist-listed Medtecs International the next best performers among the most actives.
  • Stocks that led the actively traded decliners in the second week included NanoFilm Technologies, Keppel Pacific Oak US REIT, Prime US REIT, Tianjin Pharmaceutical Da Ren Tang and Hutchison Port Holdings Trust.

At either end of the week two leaderboard, corporate announcements saw Seatrium announce it secured a Green Trade Finance Facility from OCBC worth an estimated S$1.04 billion, while NanoFilm Technologies provided profit guidance for its1HFY23.

Seatrium reports 1HFY23 results prior to the 28 July open and Nanofilm Technologies will report on 10 August. See earnings calendar.

Overall, the 100 most Singapore traded stocks so far this year (that contribute the lion share of daily trading turnover) averaged a 0.4% decline over the first week of July, then averaged a 2.3% rebound over the second week.

The table below details the 21 Singapore stocks that posted gains over each of the two weeks. The sectors most represented below included Industrials with seven stocks, and Healthcare with four stocks.

^{^} Note on SGX Watchlist.
Source: SGX, Bloomberg, Refinitiv (Data as of 14 July 2023).
The stocks above are a subset of the 100 most traded Singapore stocks in the 2023 year-to-date.

Also announced prior to the Friday 14 July open, after Singapore’s GDP expanded 0.4% y-o-y in 1Q23, it further expanded by 0.7% y-o-y in 2Q23, as inferred by the advanced 2Q23 GDP report which was mostly based on April and May data. As shown previously in the Industrial Production reports, the weak performance of the manufacturing sector was due to output declines across all manufacturing clusters, except for the transport engineering cluster.

On the positive side, the construction sector grew by 6.6% y-o-y in 2Q23, extending the 6.9% y-o-y growth in 1Q23, supported by expansions in both public and private sector construction output.

In the services sectors, growth in the Information & Communications sector was supported by continued strong demand for IT and digital solution. This saw Venture Corporation and Singapore Telecommunications lead the STI stocks on 14 July.

The recent performances of top 100 most traded Singapore stocks in year-to-date are tabled below.

^{^} Note on SGX Watchlist.
Source: SGX, Bloomberg, Refinitiv (Data as of 14 July 2023).

See also summary on SGX Market Fund Flow and SGX Top Active Stocks by week.