• Singapore’s 100 most traded stocks over the past eight months represent 70% of the total market value of all stocks listed on the exchange. During August, the 100 stocks averaged a 2.7% decline in total return, trimming their average total return over the past eight months to 27.9%.
   
• During August, the 100 stocks saw S$291 million of net institutional outflow and S$723 million of net retail inflow, with a third of the net retail inflow booked on the last trading day of the month. This saw the 2021 YTD net retail flows for the 100 stocks turn from S$244.4 million in outflow as of 31 July, to S$478.2 million in inflow as of 31 Aug.
   
• The ongoing role of technology, manufacturing and trade in driving global growth under COVID-19 constraints saw Shipbuilding, Technology and Agriculture among the strongest Sectors across the globe in August. This also saw Olam Intl, Frencken, YZJ Shipbldg, First Resources and UMS lead the 100 stocks in August.

As both global and regional equity markets firmed in August, the STI declined 3.5% to 3,055.05, with the heavy month for dividends trimming the decline in total return to 2.4%. This reduced the STI total return for the eight months to 10.4%, which saw some moderate convergence to the eight month total return of the FTSE Asia Pacific Index at 5.0%. With the STI declines, the two ETFs that track the STI booked some S$50 million of inflows, which represented the highest month of inflows for the two STI ETFs since December 2020.

During the month, the total market value of all stocks listed in Singapore declined 1.5% to S$890.5 billion. The 100 most traded stocks represent S$621.6 billion or 70% of the total S$890.5 billion market value. These 100 stocks saw S$291.1 million of net institutional outflow and S$722.6 million of net retail inflow in August. The net retail inflows for the 100 stocks in August turned the total 2021 YTD net retail flow for these 100 stocks from S$244.4 million in outflow as of 31 July, to S$478.2 million in inflow as of 31 Aug. 

Banks Maintain Competitive YTD Gains; with a Rush of Retail Inflows on 31 Aug

DBS Group Holdings (“DBS”), Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (“OCBC”) and United Overseas Bank (“UOB”) averaged a 2.0% decline in total return in August, which brought their average eight month total return to 19.2%, remaining in-line with the top quartile of global banks by market value at 19.5%. Globally, banks were supported in August by a comparatively quieter month for the 2/10-year UST Yield Curve, with the curve moderately steepening by 7 bps to 110 bps.

On the last trading day of the month, 31 Aug, the trio averaged a 1.4% decline, with S$67 million of net selling by institutions and S$119.8 million of net buying by retail. Active Traders and Liquidity Providers made up the difference in net selling, with heavy trading on the 31 Aug close. This was on the back of the MSCI Singapore weightage of SEA ADR increasing from 2.5% to 11.8% effective the 1 Sep open. As much as 30% of the combined net S$409 million retail inflow into the trio through August took place on the 31 Aug session. OCBC saw the most net retail buying of the trio on 31 Aug, with S$52.3 million in net retail buying coinciding with a volume weighted average price (“VWAP”) price of S$11.44. This was 1.7% lower than the eight month VWAP of OCBC at S$11.64, which has coincided with net retail selling of S$309 million. The stock also rebounded the most of the trio during the 1 Sep morning session to S$11.59. The full list of performances and flows of the 100 stocks on 31 Aug, and the full month of August are tabled at the end of this Market Update.

Key Sector Movers in August – Shipbuilding, Technology & Agriculture

Globally, mid-August saw a short term bout of global rotation from equities and commodities into safer-haven bonds, before the rotation began its reverse on 20 Aug. The latter part of August brought increasingly clear signaling by the US Federal Reserve that while tapering of asset purchases may begin before the end of 2021, the consideration of the Delta Variant and its impact on the US labor market remained a priority ahead of interest rate hikes. The outlook for global growth was also supported by the momentum of the 7-day rolling average of daily new global confirmed COVID-19 cases subsiding in the second half of August. As of 31 Aug, the 7-day rolling average of daily new global confirmed COVID-19 cases stood at 637,000 cases, down from 655,000 cases on 20 Aug, representing a slight break to the momentum that took the 7-day rolling average of daily new global confirmed COVID-19 cases from 360,000 cases on 22 June to 590,000 cases on 31 July and 655,000 cases on 20 Aug. The 7-day rolling average of daily new global confirmed COVID-19 cases has not been below 350,000 since October 2020.

With the increased role of technology and trade in facilitating global growth under the current COVID-19 constraints, the Technology Sector was one of the strongest across the globe in August, with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index gaining 5.8% from the 20 Aug through to the 31 Aug Asia close with AEM Holdings, UMS Holdings and Frencken Group following suit, averaging 5.7% total returns over the eight sessions. Among Singapore’s 100 most traded stocks, the trio ranked among the 10 strongest performers during the month.

 Source: SGX, Refinitiv, Bloomberg (Data as of 31 August 2021)
 

The strength in agricultural stocks has been on the back of a rise in global commodity prices in August, with Malaysia crude palm oil (“CPO”) futures trading at major highs in August, bringing its year to date price gain to 18%.  Raw cane sugar futures also returned to February 2017 highs.

Among the 100 most traded stocks this year, Olam International and First Resources ranked among the five strongest stocks in August, with respective total returns of 24.4% and 8.1%. During the month, Olam International CEO Sunny Verghese attributed the Groups strong results for the first half the year to the food security agenda, rising protein consumption, emerging markets food staples and industrial and fibre demand growth, rising technology adoption and sustainability focus.

First Resources’ CEO also noted in August that looking ahead, palm’s attractive relative pricing against competing edible oils is expected to lend support to prices whilst the lower export levy in Indonesia will help to reduce the export tax burden for exporters in the second half of the year. Bumitama Agri which has ranked as a top 150 stock by turnover so far this year, also generated a 6.6% total return in August, with the company noting during the month that it remained fully operational despite the prolonged Covid-19 pandemic and the newly appeared variants, and that CPO prices will be impacted by the seasonal increase in production in the fourth quarter of the year but overall, the average CPO price for 2021 will be higher than 2020 with the long-term fundamentals of the palm oil industry remain positive.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings was the STI’s strongest stock in August in addition to the past eight months, with a 19.7% total return in August, on the back of the re-opening of the Ningbo-Zhoushan port. The shipyards of the China-based shipbuilder are located in north of Shanghai in Jiangsu Province, along the Yangtze River. This year its outstanding order book has grown to US$8.7 billion for 167 vessels. Of this order book, orders for 112 of the 167 vessels at a contract value of US$6.7 billion were made this year. An Industry report on 17 August noted that shipping container rates had continued to skyrocket this year, with ocean trade approaching its peak season while continuing to be impacted by container imbalances created by the demand surge on the reopening of the US economy. A same time, the strain on supply chains from port closures and slower turnaround rates have seen surging freight rates. Drewry Managing Director Philip Damas was cited in a CNBC report on 5 August stating ‘factors have turned global container shipping into a highly disrupted, under-supplied seller’s market, in which shipping companies can charge four to ten times the normal price to move cargoes”. When reporting its results on 5 August, Yangzijiang cited a Clarksons report that started that global new shipbuilding orders in 1H21 made a seven year high, with a total contract value of US$52 billion, underpinned by huge number of orders placed for containerships which accounted for more than half of the new shipbuilding orders in the first half of 2021.

The month of August also saw Yinda Infocomm, Sarine Technologies, Yanlord Land and ESR-REIT rank among the strongest performers of Singapore’s 100 most traded stocks.

• On 29 July, Yinda Infocomm reported that the Group recorded a revenue of S$6.8 million and a net loss of S$7.4 million from continuing operations for its FY21 (ended 31 May), with the CEO noting that the Group had made notable progress in establishing a foothold within the digital identity management industry, with investments and acquisitions in key companies providing access to advanced biometrics technology and digital identity management solutions.
   
• On 4 August, Sarine Technologies reported its 1HFY21 revenue increased 61% to US$36.0 million, with net profit surging to US$12.6 million from US$1.2 million in 1HFY20, on the back of the strong pick-up in manufacturing activities in India, which started towards the end of 3Q20 continuing into 2021 in addition to the recovery in rough diamond manufacturing driven by strong demand for diamond jewellery.
   
• On Aug 12, Yanlord Land Group reported its 1HFY21 (ended June 30) revenue increased by 44.7% from 1HFY20 to 13.19 billion yuan (S$2.7 billion), primarily attributed to the increase in gross floor area delivered to customers, which partly offset by the decrease in average selling price per square metre achieved by the group in 1HFY21 compared to 1HFY20. With the results, founder, chairman and CEO Zhong Sheng Jia noted that given the backdrop of strong economic recovery across China during the reporting period, Yanlord's development strategy of focusing on building premium developments in high-growth economic regions and cities within the country had continued to deliver business growth. Mr Zhang also acquired 6,991,400 shares of the listed company at S$1.17 per share between 17 Aug and 19 Aug (click here for more).
   
• While reporting its 1HFY21 DPU was up 14.3% y-o-y to 1.554 cents on the back of stabilising portfolio performance back on 23 July, the month of August saw ESR-REIT complete a S$149.6 million Equity Fund Raising with the Preferential Offering 3.6 times subscribed following an equally successful Private Placement completed in May 2021, click here for more.

Singapore’s 100 Most Traded Stocks in the First Eight Months of 2021

Ranked by the highest average daily turnover Singapore’s 100 most traded stocks for the first eight months of 2021 are tabled below.

Source: SGX, Refinitiv, Bloomberg (Data as of 31 August 2021) ^on SGX Watchlist