Singapore Stocks Stink

Hardly anyone trades Singapore stocks these days. There simply are not enough stocks in volume that can be traded.

Indeed, what is done in the Singapore Stock Exchange is perplexing - why would they introduce a minimum trading price and watch-list for stocks that do not meet volume and minimum price requirement, when the issue is low trading volume. Indeed, steps should be done to increase the volume of stocks traded, which include abolition of standard lots.

It's as if we have a nuclear fallout in Singapore Exchange...

There is a deeper problem in Singapore stocks, though. Around half Straits Times Index component stocks are mainly government-linked, and a few are land and property developers and commodity trading firms. I feel that the Singapore stock exchange is not reflective of our economy, because the technology and biomedical sectors, important engines to our economy that reflects our dynamic economy better, are not represented enough in the Straits Times Index. Indeed, our economy might as well be controlled in either Hong Kong/Shanghai or New York/London/Frankfurt.

I do not suggest investing in Singapore stocks. Singapore-based stock investors could still keep a tab in long-term investment paths, those firms with long-term strategies that are actually well executed (e.g. DBS, CapitaLand, ST Engineering). Even with good management, I shall always wait for a better time to long the company. When the market is heading sideways, it is better for me to avoid Singapore markets completely.

Singapore markets do indeed stink!