Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX)

Singapore Exchange is Asia’s leading and trusted market infrastructure, facilitating the exchange of capital and ideas to create value for people, businesses and economies. As a multi-asset exchange operating equity, fixed income and derivatives markets to the highest regulatory standards, SGX is a vertically integrated business that provides listing, trading, clearing, settlement, depository and data services.

With about 40% of listed companies and over 80% of listed bonds originating outside of Singapore as well as established linkages across the region and in Europe, SGX is Asia’s most international and connected exchange. Offering a full suite of derivatives products across Asian equity indices, commodities and currencies, SGX is the world’s most liquid international market for the benchmark equity indices of China, India, Japan and ASEAN.

As Asia’s pioneering central counterparty, SGX is globally recognised for its risk management and clearing capabilities, and was one of the first globally to adopt the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructure.

Headquartered in AAA-rated Singapore, SGX has over 800 employees including offices in Beijing, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, New York, Mumbai, San Francisco, Shanghai and Tokyo.

Asia’s leading multi-asset exchange

SGX Market Strategist, Equity & Fixed Income, Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX)

Geoff Howie

SGX Market Strategist, Equity & Fixed Income

Equity Bottom-Up





2021 was a watershed year for SGX-listed ETFs. The combined AUM surged more than 40% as of 30 Nov, with the offering expanding 17% from 30 ETFs to 35 ETFs. During the 11 months, XT Vietnam and SPDR S&amp;P500 averaged a 33% total return, while XT MSCHINA and Lion-OCBC Sec HSTECH S$ averaged a 23% decline in total return. 
	 
	
On 17 Jan, the board lot size of all SGX-listed ETFs will be reduced to 1 unit, supported in part by the significant growth in dollar cost averaging. The trade size flexibility that is an essential aspect of dollar cost averaging, has also been enabled by tighter bid/offer quotes provided by market makers and investors in 2021. 
	 
	
Another enhancement for the SGX-listed ETF trading effective 17 Jan, will see greater price flexibility in the placing of limit buy and sell orders. The standard +/- 30 tick range above/below the last reference price for sell/buy limit orders will be revised to +/- 10% above/below the last reference price.      
	 

A Watershed Year for ETF Markets 

For the first 11 months of 2021, ETFs and ETPs listed globally saw a record US$1.14 trillion in net inflow. This saw their global assets under management (“AUM”) increase from US$7.99 trillion at the end of 2020, to US$9.92 trillion at the end of November 2021 (for the full ETFGI report click here).

As this year marks 20 years since ETFs were listed on SGX, we have seen the combined AUM of SGX-listed ETFs surge 41% as of 30 Nov, with the product offering expanding 17% from 30 ETFs to 35 ETFs. The combined AUM of the Singapore-listed ETFs has surged to S$1.2 billion, with as many as five ETFs maintaining AUMs above S$1.0 billion. The five ETFs are the iShares Barclays USD Asia High Yield Bond Index ETF, ICBC CSOP FTSE Chinese Government Bond ETF, SPDR Straits Times Index ETF, SPDR GLD ETF and ABF Singapore Bond Index Fund. Meanwhile, the five ETFs that have listed in 2021 include the CSOP iEdge S-REIT Leaders Index ETF, Lion-OCBC China Leaders ETF, the UOB APAC Green REIT ETF, and the Phillip MSCI Singapore Daily (2x) Leveraged and Phillip MSCI Singapore Daily (-1x) Inverse Products. Note that unlike conventional ETFs, Leveraged and Inverse (L&amp;I) products aim to track a multiple or opposite of the daily return of its underlying index (click here for more).   Market Enhancements Effective 17 January 2022

On 17 January 2022, two significant changes will take effect in the Singapore ETF market. The first change will see the board lot size of all SGX-listed ETFs reduced to 1 unit, supported in part by the significant growth in dollar cost averaging.

The trade size flexibility that is an essential aspect of dollar cost averaging, has also been enabled by tighter bid/offer quotes provided by market makers and investors in 2021. The top 10 traded ETFs in the first 11 months of 2021 saw an average year on year reduction of 33% in bid-ask spreads for top of order book and 28% average reduction in bid-ask spreads for market depth of S$50,000.  
 




			Top 10 Traded ETFs in 2021 YTD
			
			
			Stock Code
			
			
			2021 YTD Traded Value S$M
			
			
			Avg Spreads 

			in 2021 
			
			
			Avg Spreads in 2020 
			
			
			% Spreads Reduction
			
			
			Avg spreads for 
			$50K depth in 2021 
			
			
			Avg spreads for 
			$50K depth 

			in 2020 
			
			
			% Spreads Reduction for S$50k depth
			
		


			STI ETF
			
			
			ES3
			
			
			1,081
			
			
			6.2
			
			
			13.4
			
			
			-54%
			
			
			11.7
			
			
			18.7
			
			
			-38%
			
		


			Lion-OCBC Sec HSTECH US$
			
			
			HST
			
			
			628
			
			
			17.7
			
			
			22.3
			
			
			-21%
			
			
			31.2
			
			
			34.4
			
			
			-9%
			
		


			GLD US$
			
			
			O87
			
			
			602
			
			
			6.0
			
			
			6.4
			
			
			-7%
			
			
			6.6
			
			
			7.5
			
			
			-12%
			
		


			IS ASIA HYG US$
			
			
			O9P
			
			
			563
			
			
			20.4
			
			
			42.0
			
			
			-51%
			
			
			27.6
			
			
			60.6
			
			
			-54%
			
		


			Nikko AM STI ETF
			
			
			G3B
			
			
			469
			
			
			33.4
			
			
			49.0
			
			
			-32%
			
			
			35.6
			
			
			54.6
			
			
			-35%
			
		


			NikkoAM-STC Asia REIT
			
			
			CFA
			
			
			297
			
			
			16.9
			
			
			29.8
			
			
			-43%
			
			
			28.8
			
			
			39.6
			
			
			-27%
			
		


			NikkoAM SGD IGBond ETF
			
			
			MBH
			
			
			176
			
			
			12.7
			
			
			23.0
			
			
			-45%
			
			
			18.6
			
			
			30.0
			
			
			-38%
			
		


			ICBC CSOP CGB ETF US$D
			
			
			CYB
			
			
			145
			
			
			16.5
			
			
			16.1
			
			
			3%
			
			
			17.0
			
			
			16.8
			
			
			2%
			
		


			ABF SG BOND ETF
			
			
			A35
			
			
			135
			
			
			11.4
			
			
			20.6
			
			
			-45%
			
			
			16.6
			
			
			27.1
			
			
			-39%
			
		


			LION-PHILLIP S-REIT
			
			
			CLR
			
			
			134
			
			
			19.0
			
			
			30.1
			
			
			-37%
			
			
			32.2
			
			
			43.1
			
			
			-25%
			
		


			Average Improvement
			
			
			 
			
			
			 
			
			
			 
			
			
			 
			
			
			-33%
			
			
			 
			
			
			 
			
			
			-28%
			
		

Source: SGX, Refinitiv, Bloomberg (Data as of 30 November 2021)

The second enhancement for the SGX-listed ETFs will see greater price flexibility in the placing of limit buy and sell orders with a change to the forced order range. The standard +/- 30 tick range above/below the last reference price for sell/buy limit orders will be revised to +/- 10% above/below the last reference price.    

 




			Top 10 Traded ETFs in 2021 YTD
			
			
			Stock Code
			
			
			Current Lot Size
			
			
			Example of Current $ Minimum

			trade size1
			
			
			Example of Minimum

			$ trade size effective 

			17-Jan-221
			
			
			Minimum

			Bid Size
			
			
			Current Forced Order Range in %1
			
			
			New Forced Order Range in %
			
		


			STI ETF
			
			
			ES3
			
			
			10
			
			
			31.48
			
			
			3.15
			
			
			0.001
			
			
			1.0%
			
			
			10%
			
		


			Lion-OCBC Sec HSTECH US$
			
			
			HST
			
			
			10
			
			
			10.13
			
			
			1.01
			
			
			0.001
			
			
			3.0%
			
			
			10%
			
		


			GLD US$
			
			
			O87
			
			
			5
			
			
			826.55
			
			
			165.31
			
			
			0.01
			
			
			0.2%
			
			
			10%
			
		


			IS ASIA HYG US$
			
			
			O9P
			
			
			5
			
			
			42.9
			
			
			8.58
			
			
			0.01
			
			
			3.5%
			
			
			10%
			
		


			Nikko AM STI ETF
			
			
			G3B
			
			
			10
			
			
			31.8
			
			
			3.18
			
			
			0.01
			
			
			9.4%
			
			
			10%
			
		


			NikkoAM-STC Asia REIT
			
			
			CFA
			
			
			10
			
			
			10.93
			
			
			1.09
			
			
			0.001
			
			
			2.7%
			
			
			10%
			
		


			NikkoAM SGD IGBond ETF
			
			
			MBH
			
			
			10
			
			
			10.38
			
			
			1.04
			
			
			0.001
			
			
			2.9%
			
			
			10%
			
		


			ICBC CSOP CGB ETF US$D
			
			
			CYB
			
			
			10
			
			
			109.2
			
			
			10.92
			
			
			0.01
			
			
			2.7%
			
			
			10%
			
		


			ABF SG BOND ETF
			
			
			A35
			
			
			10
			
			
			11.62
			
			
			1.16
			
			
			0.001
			
			
			2.6%
			
			
			10%
			
		


			LION-PHILLIP S-REIT
			
			
			CLR
			
			
			100
			
			
			107
			
			
			1.07
			
			
			0.001
			
			
			2.8%
			
			
			10%
			
		

Source: SGX, Refinitiv, Bloomberg (Data as of 30 November 2021) 1Based on last traded price on 3-Dec-2021 
 

Board lot size of ETFs listed on SGX will be reduced to 1 unit

Currently, Singapore-listed ETFs maintain different board lot sizes ranging from 5 units to 100 units. Effective, 17 January 2022, the board lot size of ALL ETFs listed on SGX will be reduced to 1 unit, providing added flexibility for portfolio management. For instance, based on a unit price of US$459.07 on 3 December, the SPDR S&amp;P 500 US$ ETF (S27) is traded in multiples of US$4,590.70 based on a board lot size of 10 units. Effective 17 January 2022, the minimum trade size for SPDR S&amp;P 500 US$ ETF will be traded in multiples of US$459.07 based on the NEW board lot size of 1 unit, assuming the 3 December unit price of US$459.07. This reduces the minimum trade size per board lot by as much as 90%. It also means that an investor who wishes to allocate US$12,000 into the ETF can purchase 26 units with a total value of US$11,935.82, instead of a less flexible purchase of 20 units at US$9,181.40 or 30 units at US$13,772.10.

Existing Forced Order Range of +/- 30 ticks will be revised to +/- 10%

The ‘forced order’ key provides an alert when the price of an order is beyond the forced order range. It is a pre-execution mechanism and does not block orders. Market participants can still 'force' an order through at a price which lies outside the forced order range through their respective brokers. This aspect of the order process is managed between the broker and investor. However, with this enhancement, investors can place limit orders within +/- 10% of last reference price without triggering the forced order key, as opposed to the current bounds of +/- 30 ticks from the last reference price.  This will see greater price flexibility in the placing of limit buy and sell orders.

For instance, assuming a price of S$3.00, the force order range for STI ETF (ES3) is 30 ticks which equates to +/- 1.0% from its last reference price. Effective 17 January 2022, the force order range for STI ETF will be +/- 10% from its last reference price. This will provide for flexibility in the placement of limit buy and sell orders to both investors and day traders. 
 

ETFs are investment funds listed and traded intraday on a stock exchange. The majority aim to track the performance of an index and provide access to a wide variety of markets and asset classes, including local stocks, international securities, bonds, commodities or money markets. Each ETF gives investors access to the performance of the asset which comprises of the underlying index. Investing in the ETF is also less costly if one were to build a similar portfolio by buying the individual stocks. These portfolio products also provide exposure to international markets and asset classes that may be inaccessible to individual investors.

The 35 ETFs listed on SGX, sort by highest returns for the first 11 months of 2021 are tabled below.




			ETF Name
			
			
			Primary Code
			
			
			Sec. Code
			
			
			Issuer
			
			
			Total Expense Ratio %
			
			
			Fund Focus
			
			
			2021 to 30 Nov Total Return % [SGD]
			
			
			2021 to 30 Nov Inflow/ Outflow

			S$M
			
			
			AUM S$M as of Nov 2021
			
		


			Xtrackers FTSE Vietnam Swap UCITS ETF
			
			
			HD9
			
			 
			
			XTrackers
			
			
			0.85
			
			
			Vietnam Equities
			
			
			37.1
			
			
			2
			
			
			20
			
		


			SPDR S&amp;P 500 ETF
			
			
			S27
			
			 
			
			SSGA
			
			
			0.09
			
			
			US Equities
			
			
			28.6
			
			
			16
			
			
			69
			
		


			Lyxor MSCI India UCITS ETF - Acc USD
			
			
			G1N
			
			 
			
			Lyxor
			
			
			0.85
			
			
			India Equities
			
			
			25.4
			
			
			-  
			
			
			15
			
		


			iShares MSCI India Index ETF
			
			
			I98
			
			
			QK9
			
			
			Blackrock
			
			
			1.03
			
			
			India Equities
			
			
			23.9
			
			
			-  
			
			
			139
			
		


			SPDR®  DJIA ETF TRUST
			
			
			D07
			
			 
			
			SSGA
			
			
			0.17
			
			
			US Equities
			
			
			19.4
			
			
			-  
			
			
			4
			
		


			SPDR® Straits Times Index ETF
			
			
			ES3
			
			 
			
			SSGA
			
			
			0.3
			
			
			SG Equities
			
			
			10.7
			
			
			 (145)
			
			
			1,575
			
		


			NikkoAM-ICBCSG China Bond ETF RMB Class
			
			
			ZHY
			
			
			ZHD
			
			
			Nikko AM
			
			
			0.3
			
			
			China RMB Bonds
			
			
			10.3
			
			
			11
			
			
			252
			
		


			ICBC CSOP FTSE Chinese Government Bond ETF
			
			
			CYC
			
			
			CYB
			
			
			CSOP AM
			
			
			0.25
			
			
			China RMB Bonds
			
			
			10.3
			
			
			306
			
			
			1,986
			
		


			NikkoAM-ICBCSG China Bond ETF SGD Class
			
			
			ZHS
			
			 
			
			Nikko AM
			
			
			0.3
			
			
			China RMB Bonds
			
			
			10.1
			
			
			20
			
			
			68
			
		


			Nikko AM Singapore STI ETF
			
			
			G3B
			
			 
			
			Nikko AM
			
			
			0.3
			
			
			SG Equities
			
			
			9.9
			
			
			66
			
			
			576
			
		


			Xtrackers MSCI Singapore UCITS ETF
			
			
			O9A
			
			 
			
			XTrackers
			
			
			0.5
			
			
			SG Equities
			
			
			8.1
			
			
			 (2)
			
			
			14
			
		


			Phillip APAC DIV REIT Leader ETF
			
			
			BYI
			
			
			BYJ
			
			
			Phillip
			
			
			0.91
			
			
			APAC REITs
			
			
			7.6
			
			
			 (4)
			
			
			19
			
		


			Phillip Sing Income ETF
			
			
			OVQ
			
			 
			
			Phillip
			
			
			0.97
			
			
			SG Equities
			
			
			5.7
			
			
			3
			
			
			63
			
		


			Principal FTSE ASEAN40 ETF
			
			
			M62
			
			
			QS0
			
			
			PAM
			
			
			0.8
			
			
			ASEAN Equities
			
			
			3.6
			
			
			 (9)
			
			
			11
			
		


			Xtrackers MSCI Indonesia Swap UCITS ETF
			
			
			KJ7
			
			 
			
			XTrackers
			
			
			0.65
			
			
			Indonesia Equities
			
			
			3.1
			
			
			 (1)
			
			
			19
			
		


			iShares Asia Credit ETF
			
			
			N6M
			
			
			QL2
			
			
			Blackrock
			
			
			0.2
			
			
			Asia USD Bonds
			
			
			2.6
			
			
			26
			
			
			107
			
		


			Lion-Phillip S-REIT ETF
			
			
			CLR
			
			 
			
			LGI
			
			
			0.6
			
			
			Singapore REITs
			
			
			2.1
			
			
			49
			
			
			235
			
		


			NikkoAM-StraitsTrading Asia ex Japan REIT ETF
			
			
			CFA
			
			
			COI
			
			
			Nikko AM
			
			
			0.6
			
			
			Asia REITs
			
			
			1.0
			
			
			86
			
			
			328
			
		


			Phillip SGD Money Market ETF
			
			
			MMS
			
			
			MMT
			
			
			Phillip
			
			
			0.24
			
			
			SGD Bonds
			
			
			0.2
			
			
			 (5)
			
			
			116
			
		


			Nikko AM SGD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF
			
			
			MBH
			
			 
			
			Nikko AM
			
			
			0.3
			
			
			SGD Bonds
			
			
			(0.8)
			
			
			16
			
			
			600
			
		


			Lyxor MSCI AC Asia Pacific Ex Japan UCITS ETF - USD
			
			
			P60
			
			 
			
			Lyxor
			
			
			0.6
			
			
			APAC Equities
			
			
			(1.8)
			
			
			0
			
			
			26
			
		


			SPDR GLD ETF
			
			
			O87
			
			
			GSD
			
			
			SSGA
			
			
			0.4
			
			
			Gold
			
			
			(2.1)
			
			
			(132)
			
			
			1,363
			
		


			Lyxor MSCI Emerging Markets UCITS ETF - Acc USD
			
			
			H1N
			
			 
			
			Lyxor
			
			
			0.55
			
			
			EM Equities
			
			
			(2.5)
			
			
			2
			
			
			7
			
		


			Principal S&amp;P APAC Dividend ETF
			
			
			P5P
			
			
			QR9
			
			
			PAM
			
			
			1.06
			
			
			APAC Equities
			
			
			(4.1)
			
			
			4
			
			
			22
			
		


			Xtrackers II Singapore Government Bond UCITS ETF
			
			
			KV4
			
			 
			
			XTrackers
			
			
			0.2
			
			
			SGD Bonds
			
			
			(4.6)
			
			
			(2)
			
			
			128
			
		


			ABF Singapore Bond Index Fund
			
			
			A35
			
			 
			
			Nikko AM
			
			
			0.25
			
			
			SGD Bonds
			
			
			(5.1)
			
			
			109
			
			
			1,052
			
		


			UNITED SSE 50 CHINA ETF
			
			
			JK8
			
			 
			
			UOBAM
			
			
			2.28
			
			
			China Equities
			
			
			(6.6)
			
			
			2
			
			
			28
			
		


			iShares Barclays USD Asia High Yield Bond Index ETF
			
			
			O9P
			
			
			QL3
			
			
			Blackrock
			
			
			0.5
			
			
			Asia USD Bonds
			
			
			(9.0)
			
			
			2,447
			
			
			2,523
			
		


			Lyxor MSCI China ESG Leaders Extra (DR) UCITS ETF
			
			
			P58
			
			 
			
			Lyxor
			
			
			0.65
			
			
			China Equities
			
			
			(18.1)
			
			
			(3)
			
			
			30
			
		


			Xtrackers MSCI China UCITS ETF
			
			
			LG9
			
			
			TID
			
			
			XTrackers
			
			
			0.65
			
			
			China Equities
			
			
			(18.8)
			
			
			35
			
			
			67
			
		


			Lion-OCBC Securities Hang Seng TECH ETF
			
			
			HST
			
			
			HSS
			
			
			LGI
			
			
			0.68
			
			
			China Equities
			
			
			(26.6)
			
			
			268
			
			
			287
			
		


			Lion-OCBC China Leaders ETF*
			
			
			YYY
			
			
			YYR
			
			
			LGI
			
			
			0.62
			
			
			China Equities
			
			
			N/A
			
			
			84
			
			
			87
			
		


			CSOP iEdge SREIT Leaders Index ETF*
			
			
			SRT
			
			
			SRU
			
			
			CSOP AM
			
			
			0.6
			
			
			Singapore REITs
			
			
			N/A
			
			
			113
			
			
			113
			
		


			UOB APAC Green REIT ETF*
			
			
			GRN
			
			
			GRE
			
			
			UOBAM
			
			
			0.8
			
			
			APAC REITs
			
			
			N/A
			
			
			-   
			
			
			83
			
		


			Total (All)
			
			
			 
			
			
			 
			
			
			 
			
			
			 
			
			
			 
			
			
			 
			
			
			3,285
			
			
			12,111
			
		

Source: SGX, Refinitiv, Bloomberg (Data as of 30 November 2021)

* New Listings in 2021 
 

To find out more about ETFs, click here. 



ETF Trading Enhancements Commence 17 Jan 

State Street

ETF Trading Enhancements Commence 17 Jan