OREANDA-NEWS. February 04, 2015. Singapore Exchange (SGX) reported increased retail activity and continued growth in securities trading in January 2015.  Derivatives volumes remained robust with record volumes in key derivatives contracts on the back of increased participation from all customer categories.

Securities

  • Average daily trading value was \\$1.2 billion, up 22% month-on-month and 12% year-on-year. Total trading value was \\$25 billion, up 17% from a month earlier and 12% year-on-year. The number of trading days in January 2015 was 21 compared with 22 days in December 2014 and 21 days in January 2014.
  • SGX saw a 9% increase in the number of active clients in January.
  • Smaller board lots were introduced on 19 January to make the higher priced stocks more easily available to retail investors and early indications point to increased retail participation in the STI stocks.
  • Bond listings totalled 26 raising \\$16 billion, double the amount a month before but down 35% a year earlier.

Derivatives

  • Total derivatives volume in January 2015 was 14.7 million contracts, down 15% month-on-month and up 67% year-on-year.  SGX saw a record volume of more than 1.5 million contracts traded in a single day.
  • SGX FTSE China A50 Index futures traded more than 7.1 million contracts, down 25% month-on-month but up 202% year-on-year.  A single day record volume of almost 600,000 contracts was also achieved in the same month. 
  • Strong growth also continued in MSCI India Index Futures and CNX Nifty Index Futures. The India Nifty futures set a record volume of 2 million contracts, up 20% month-on-month and 43% year-on-year.
  • The SGX Indian Rupee/US dollar foreign exchange (FX) futures also saw a new monthly record with 206,383 contacts, a 21% increase month-on-month and 24 times more than the year before.  In addition, the SGX US dollar/Singapore dollar FX futures traded a total of 23,441 contracts, 3 times more the month before and 7 times of the year earlier.
  • Volume of cleared OTC SGD Interest Rate Swaps was \\$10.4 billion, almost 4 times the volume a month earlier and up 51% year-on-year, as activity picked up with increased volatility seen in both the forex and interest rates markets.