- Benchmark surges 5% this year to surpass January 2020 high
- Gauge still lags regional peers in erasing virus-era declines
Singapore’s equity benchmark has erased losses accrued during the pandemic thanks to the nation’s policy of living with the virus and a global rotation toward value stocks.
The cyclicals-heavy Straits Times Index has been hovering close to its January 2020 high of 3,281.03 since Friday. The gauge has risen 5% this year with lenders such as United Overseas Bank Ltd. and restructured firms such as Sembcorp Industries Ltd. among the leading gainers over that period.
While Singapore has lagged behind many regional peers including tech-heavy South Korea and Taiwan in erasing losses triggered by the pandemic, a gamut of factors are putting the city-state in the driver’s seat for 2022. The nation’s efforts to reopen and restructuring by companies, coupled with the rising U.S Treasury yields increasing the allure of value stocks, are making analysts optimistic on the market.
“Singapore was a sitting duck when everyone was chasing growth and stay-at-home themes in last few years,” said Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, an analyst at Tellimer. “It is the opposite of of a sitting duck now, and 2022 can turn out to better than the last year if reopening and value rotation widens.” The gauge rose about 10% in 2021.
To be sure, the global spread of the omicron variant has rekindled concern over the nation’s reopening and pace of economic growth.
Still, Singapore has added to its allure of being home to numerous value stocks and a reopening-friendly regime by carrying out a massive revamp of old-economy companies during the pandemic.
Over the past two years, at least eight state-linked firms announced major mergers, acquisitions, asset disposals or privatizations in the island’s biggest industrial overhaul in two decades.
“Singapore is in a sweet spot,” and its banks, industrials and consumer companies offer safe havens to investors, said Thilan Wickramasinghe, an analyst at Maybank Kim Eng Securities Pte.
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