OREANDA-NEWS. Singapore Exchange (SGX) will hold its first-ever SGX My First Stock Carnival, as part of a campaign to educate new investors and encourage them to start investing.  The campaign comprises a fun-filled carnival this weekend (6 to 8 February), digital initiatives including an interactive online tool, the launch of SGX Mobile App as well as a weekly radio programme.

Recent retail investment trends have shown that almost one-third of new retail CDP account holders are under the age of 25. Targeted at NIBIs (Not Invested But Interested) aged 18 – 30 years old, the SGX My First Stock Carnival takes a hands-on, user-friendly approach to educate investors on how to get started on investing. A Resource Centre will be set up at the carnival to provide information and tools for investing, and SGX staff will show participants how to select their first investment. Participants will be given a My First Stock Guidebook to help them learn about investing.  Six brokers will also be on hand to help investors open accounts and activate their first transaction, and share about their fee promotions to support smaller board lots. For more details, see Annex A.

One of the new SGX tools being launched is the SGX Investor Roadmap, an easy-to-use, interactive online tool designed to help new investors get started on their investment journey. For more details, see Annex B.

To give investors market information on the go, SGX will be launching its mobile app at the carnival. The app is available on both Google Android and Apple iOS platforms. For more details, see Annex C.

From March 3, SGX will provide content for a weekly live radio programme on MediaCorp’s 938LIVE called Dollars and Sense.  SGX and other investment experts will discuss various aspects of investing and listeners can call in with their questions. Dollars and Sense will be broadcast every Tuesday from 12.30-1pm and be repeated on Saturday evenings from 8.30-9pm. Currently, SGX provides daily market updates on 938LIVE at 6.50am, 11.20am and 6.20pm.

Lynn Gaspar, Head of Retail Investors at SGX, said, “SGX My First Stock Carnival is an excellent opportunity for us to reach out to new investors and help them embark on their investment journey. The Investor Roadmap, guidebook and mobile app are useful tools for investors to select the most appropriate stocks for their investment objectives. Together with the recent reduction of board lot size, our existing company screener and information portal SGX StockFacts, and retail education efforts through over 300 seminars and courses run by SGX Academy each year, SGX continues to educate, engage and enable retail investors, and help them be financially confident.”

The minimum lot size in the securities market was reduced from 1,000 to 100 from 19 January 2015. With smaller board lots, higher-priced stocks have become more affordable to investors. Reduced board lots enable investors with less investment funds to build a diversified portfolio more effectively, giving them more flexibility to manage their exposure to different sectors.

Compared with the last quarter (October-December 2014), the number of daily retail participants in the first two weeks since the introduction of smaller board lots has risen 29%. Although the median trade value has fallen 61%, this was more than offset by an 82% increase in the number of daily retail transactions. Daily retail transactions in STI stocks increased at an even faster rate and more than doubled over the previous quarter.