Jump in trading volume for S'pore stocks in February

Market support measures, strong earnings and safe-haven reputation boost interest

- Chor Khieng Yuit

Trading volumes in Singapore stocks have risen since measures to boost the liquidity and competitiveness of the local equities markets were announced on Feb 21.

Online platforms and market players told The Straits Times that other factors such as geopolitical uncertainties and strong earnings results from Singapore-listed firms have also contributed to the increased interest in the markets.

There were 29.9 billion shares traded on the Singapore bourse in February, a 56 per cent jump from 19.1 billion in January, according to a March 7 report from the Singapore Exchange (SGX), which operates the Singapore stock market.

The market turnover value—this refers to the total market value of all transactions for the month—rose 42 per cent to $29.6 billion, from $20.8 billion in January.

This brought the average value of securities traded on any given day in February to about $1.5 billion—the highest since May 2022, SGX noted.

The number of unique trading accounts participating in the markets rose 25 per cent to 120,062 in February, the first time since August 2024 that it had crossed the 120,000 mark.

Mr Christopher Forbes, head of Asia at CMC Markets, said there has been "a notable increase in activity, especially among the large-cap names" on his investment platform following the launch of the $5 billion scheme for the Singapore equity markets.

He noted that investors on CMC's platform are "incremental buyers", meaning that they dollar-cost average and make small amounts of investments regularly.