For the month of October, 21 primary-listed SGX stocks repurchased more than 50 million shares with a total consideration of S$15 million. October buyback consideration was led by Keppel REIT, Stamford Land Corporation, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Singapore Shipping Corporation and Global Investments.
The 3 largest telecom players on SGX – Singtel, NetLink NBN Trust and StarHub – have a combined market cap of about S$60 billion. Last month, Singapore unveiled plans to issue licences to operate two full-fledged 5G networks and two smaller ones with limited coverage. In the month of October, the trio averaged a total return of 3.7%. In the YTD, Singtel and NetLink were the strongest performers, averaging total returns of 16.3% and 25.2% respectively.
Aside from the broad market drivers, gains by Asia Pacific’s largest capitalised hi-tech hardware stocks in October coincided with 5G roll outs ahead of schedule globally. Significant gains were also observed with AEM, Hi-P International, UMS. Singapore’s 50 most traded stocks by turnover in October, also averaged 4% gains in October. The top performer of the 50 stocks in the month of October was Rex International Holding. On October 16, the Catalist-listed stock announced an oil and gas discovery had been made from exploration and appraisal wells drilled in the Norwegian Sea.
Effective last Monday, 21 Oct 2019, Singapore Airlines, ComfortDelGro and CDL Hospitality Trusts were added to the FTSE Value-Stocks ASEAN, while City Developments, UOL Group, Mapletree Industrial Trust and Bukit Sembawang Estates were removed from the Index. This brings the total number of SGX-listed stocks in the Index to 11.
SGX lists more than 20 transport-related stocks, which include companies that provide air, road, rail and sea transport, as well as businesses that supply ancillary services to these transport operators. In the YTD, the 5 best-performing transport-linked plays with market cap above S$100 million were: Penguin Intl (+128.1%), SBS Transit (+56.5%), First Ship Lease Trust (+26.7%), SIA Engineering (+19.3%), and ComfortDelGro Corp (+17.3%).
Last week, Mapletree Commercial Trust kick-started the quarterly reporting season for the constituents of the benchmark STI by releasing its results for the fiscal second quarter ended 30 September 2019. Singapore Press Holdings, Keppel Corp and CapitaLand Mall Trust followed suit with their FY19 and Q3 earnings releases last week, while CapitaLand Commercial Trust and Singapore Exchange are scheduled to unveil their results tomorrow and on Thursday respectively.
The Utilities Sector is typically made up of stocks that provide gas, electricity or water, with population growth the underlying driver of demand for these services. As a result, the sector has traditionally been seen as more defensive than cyclical in nature. In the YTD, the 3 largest, best-performing Utilities stocks were: China Jinjiang Environment (+28.3%), Keppel Infrastructure Trust (+21.5%) and China Everbright Water (+8.7%).
SPH REIT kicked off the September quarter financial reporting season for S-REITs on 10 October with the release of its fiscal 4Q 2019 earnings. The iEdge S-REIT Index comprises 36 constituents with a combined market cap of S$102 billion. These constituents averaged a total return of 27.2% in the 2019 YTD, bringing their 1Y and 3Y total returns to 27.8% and 42.7% respectively.
Singapore’s 10 most actively traded stocks with a construction focus, and combined market value of S$2.1 billion, have averaged 11% total returns in the 2019 YTD. Pan-United has been the strongest of the 10 stocks in 2019 YTD, with a 42% total return, after it was the second least performer of the 10 in 2018 with a 43% decline. In Sept, Pan-United Concrete Pte Ltd became the first concrete firm to win the SGBC-BCA Sustainability Leadership Award.
The iEdge SG All Healthcare Index, which tracks Singapore's listed healthcare sector, comprises 34 constituents with a combined market cap of over S$34 billion. In the YTD, 5 best-performing constituents of the iEdge SG All Healthcare Index with market cap above S$100 million were: ISEC (+48.6% ), HMI (+35.1%), Parkway Life REIT (+25.1%), Haw Par (+20.8%) and iX Biopharma (+18.0%).
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