• Singapore’s Industrial Production has booked 9% growth for the first 5 months of 2022, following 13% growth in 2021 and 7% growth posted in 2020.  Resilient regional trade has also supported manufacturing industries, with Singapore’s NODX expanding for the past 18 months on YoY basis.
   
• Singapore’s 20 most traded stocks with significant manufacturing activity generally span all key facets of Industrial Production, including electronics, chemicals, medical, precision engineering, transport engineering and general manufacturing. With combined S$200 million in daily trading turnover in the 2022 YTD, the 20 stocks have averaged a 4% decline in total return, bringing average annualised total returns since the end of 2019 to 13%.
   
• Last week, NIO rallied 18%, with the designer, developer, jointly manufacturer and seller of premium smart electric vehicles, averaging close to 20% weekly trading ranges since its debut on 20 May, while also ranking among Singapore’s 50 most traded stocks. 
   
• BA.4 and BA.5 concerns also saw Riverstone and Top Glove Corp average 6% returns last week, while some global rotation into Technology saw Frencken Group, Nanofilm Technologies International, ST Engineering, ISDN Holdings, UMS Holdings, Aztech Global, AEM Holdings and Venture Corporation average 2% returns on the week.
  
   

On Friday, Singapore’s May Industrial Production (IP) was reported to grow 13.8% YoY, growing 8.7% for the first five months of 2022. This follows a 13.3% growth in 2021 and a 7.5% growth in 2020.  

Singapore’s most traded stocks with significant manufacturing activity broadly span all facets of Singapore’s IP, including electronics, chemicals, medical, precision engineering, transport engineering and general manufacturing. Coinciding with the importance of regional trade to manufacturing, a number of these stocks are also based in Singapore’s biggest trading partners such as China, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Singapore’s 20 most traded stocks with manufacturing related activity are tabled below. Combined, the 20 stocks have booked more than S$200 million in daily trading turnover in the 2022 year-to-date while averaging a 4% decline in total return, bringing their average annualised total returns since the end of 2019 to 13%.
 

Source: SGX (Data as of 24 June 2022), Bloomberg & Refinitiv.

NIO, Medical & Tech Led Manufacturing-related stocks last week
 

NIO Inc generated an 18% gain last week, with the tradability of the stock generating close to 20% weekly trading ranges since its debut on 20 May. NIO Inc’s stock has seen average intraday swings in the vicinity of 660 bps between its day-high and day-lows over the past 26 sessions, with the widest trading range of 1135 bps on 20 June and the narrowest range on 28 May at 171 bps (excluding the debut session). On 9 June, NIO Inc reported 1Q22 vehicle sales growth of 24.8% YoY, on the back of a 28.5% YoY increase in EV deliveries (25.8k units). Management noted it expects total revenue in 2Q22 to grow 10.6% to 19.4% YoY, with EV deliveries to grow 5.0% to 14.2% YoY.

Last week, the medical side of Singapore’s manufacturing-related stocks posted gains with the BA.4 and BA.5 variants continuing to be closely monitored, and average daily global cases crossed above the 600,000 cases threshold on Thursday, up from the 466,000 low on 30 May. This saw Riverstone Holdings and Top Glove Corp Bhd average 6% returns for the week. Catalist listings, UG Healthcare Corp and Medtecs International Corp, which in the year-to-date rank outside the most 20 trading manufacturing related stocks, averaged 8% gains for the week. Total returns for these four stocks have varied from a 25% decline for Top Glove Corp Bhd to a 533% total return for Medtecs International Corp since the end of 2019.

Resilient regional trade has supported IP growth since 2019. Singapore’s NODX has expanded on a YoY basis for the past 18 months, with exports to Indonesia, Taiwan and Malaysia leading the 12% YoY growth in May. Back on 25 May, MTI also maintained that Singapore’s electronics cluster is expected to expand more strongly than earlier projected, bolstered by robust global demand for semiconductors from the 5G and automotive markets, as well as cloud services and data centres. Electronics were also a main source of the May IP growth, with the semiconductors segment up 45.7% YoY. Last week, Frencken Group, Nanofilm Technologies International, ST Engineering, ISDN Holdings, UMS Holdings, Aztech Global, AEM Holdings and Venture Corporation averaged 1.8% returns, outpacing the STI’s 0.4% gain.  For the 2022 year-to-date, these eight stocks have averaged a 19% decline in total return, in-line with the technology sector which has been weighed by a 29% decline in the SOX. Higher energy prices combined with supply chain constraints and the outlook for growth deceleration has seen technology stocks across the globe the least performers in the year-to-date.