The STI has generated a 14.5% YTD dividend inclusive return, with Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings (which joined the STI in September 2015) the strongest of the 30 STI constituents. The strongest STI Sector in the YTD has been Real Estate Management & Development – with Global Logistic Properties, City Developments, CapitaLand, UOL Group and Hongkong Land Holdings averaging 24.5% total returns.
Singapore’s Electronics cluster (27.4% of total manufacturing activity) demonstrates strong momentum with its 13th consecutive month of YoY output growth. SGX’s IT Sector is an outperformer in the YTD with total returns of 33.3%, above the STI’s +11.1% and the MSCI Asia ex-Japan IT Index’s +18.4%. Strong earnings outlook likely the key driver of IT Sector’s outperformance. Consensus expects 10 largest IT stocks* to grow earnings by 20% in 2017.
The MSCI Singapore Index (“SiMSCI Index”) ended yesterday at 358.3, which is a 18 month high and a 27% recovery from its February 2016 low. The SIMSCI Index has delivered a 14% YTD total return and been amongst the leading performers amongst key Asian indices. Half of the SiMSCI Index constituents have recently reported 1Q17 earnings. In addition, a slew of dividend distributions last week have seen the discount of the May SiMSCI Futures to the underlying SiMSCI Index narrow by 2.0 points.
SGX lists four Indian equity ETFs, three of which track the MSCI India Index, while the fourth tracks the Nifty 50 Index. They were among the top performing ETFs in the year-to-date, averaging a return of 16.0%. In the year thus far, Indian equity fund inflows have reached US$6.3 billion, second only to Taiwan in Asia. In terms of global fund flows, India was ranked 11th, above key Asian economies like South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia, which are also experiencing net inflows in the year-to-date.
Information Technology (IT) was the best performing of Singapore’s Sectors in the 2017 YTD. The IT Sector generated a 4.9% capitalisation weighted total return in April, taking YTD gains to 33.3%. April was the third consecutive month the IT Sector was the best performing. The largest stock of Singapore IT Sector, Venture Corp reported 1Q17 results on Friday, with net profit up 36% YOY to S$48.6 million. Among the 10 largest stocks of Singapore’s IT Sector, Elec & Eltek International Co was the best YTD performer.
RHT generated total returns of 2.7% and 33.1% in the year-to-date and last 12 months, bringing its three-year total return to 80.5%. The trust currently trades at 1.1x price-to-book (P/B) ratio with 7.7% dividend yield. Parkway Life generated total returns of 11.0% and 11.1% in the year-to-date and last 12 months, bringing its three-year total return to 21.7%. The trust currently trades at 1.5x price-to-book (P/B) ratio with 5.1% dividend yield. First REIT generated total returns of 9.0% and 14.7% in the year-to-date and last 12 months, bringing its three-year total return to 43.6%. The trust currently trades at 1.3x price-to-book (P/B) ratio with 6.4% dividend yield.
Aoxin Q & M Dental Group Ltd (Aoxin), the first dental services and equipment provider in China, is scheduled to debut on Catalist tomorrow. Aoxin is one of the leading providers of private dental services/dental equipment and supplies in Liaoning Province, Northern China. SGX lists 20 Health Care Equipment and Services stocks with a combined market capitalisation of S$25.0 billion. Excluding secondary listings, these stocks averaged a total return of 17.3% in the YTD.
Despite being one of Singapore’s smaller healthcare sub-segments, the YTD total return of 7.3% generated by the six Pharmaceuticals stocks is almost double that of the overall SGX Healthcare Index. Against Asia-Pacific peers, Singapore Pharmaceuticals stocks trade at lower valuations of 13.9x PE and 1.2x PB, and generated higher total returns of 7.3% in the YTD (vs 2.2%) and 16.3% in the last one year (vs 7.7%).
The SGX Developed Asia ex Japan Quality Index is made up of 60 stocks listed across Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea. With constituents maintaining comparatively strong financials, the Index has generated more resilient long term returns than relative benchmarks. Financial metrics for Quality Factors include net profit margins, return on equity & invested capital, the degree of financial leverage and accrued income.
Singapore lists comparatively more stocks in the GICS® ‘Healthcare Providers and Services’ sub-sector than the global norm, with capitalisation growth outpacing the world. Singapore's 14 primary listings in the sub-sector generated a 12 month median return of 24%. Four of the 14 primary listings - Singapore Medical Group, Health Management International, TalkMed Group and Singapore O&G - exceeded 50% in returns over the past 12 months.
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