SGX Reports Lacklustre Market Volumes for July

The Singapore Exchange (SGX), , published its market statistics today for this July. The results show a mixed-bag performance, with the three main segments – securities, derivatives and commodities all showing either month-on-month or year-on-year declines.
During July, the  hosted four initial public offerings (IPOs), the highest number of listings per month so far this year. Collectively, the four IPOs raised $105 million (SGD 143.3 million).
On the securities market, the total turnover was $18 billion (SGD 24.6 billion). This is a slight uptick of 1% from June’s turnover, however, it is down by 4% year-on-year. It is important to note that there was one less trading day in July this year than last year. 
The average daily value for securities (SDAV) was $821 million (SGD 1.12 billion). This is a slowdown of 8% both month-on-month and year-on-year. For all of the 745 listed companies on the securities market, the total market capitalisation value was $731.5 6 billion (SGD 997.86 billion) at the end of July.
Taking a look at the derivatives market, the total volume was 16.9 million, a decline of 5% from the previous month. When compared to the same time period last year, the market volume was up 19%. According to the report, the FTSE China A50 Index Futures remained the most active contract. In July, total contracts traded was 7.32 million. This is an increase of 13% from June 2018, and up 32% from the same period in 2017.
Forex volumes fall on SGX
The total foreign exchange futures volumes fell by 8% from June’s volumes, coming in at 1.7 million. However, this was an impressive 124% year-on-year increase. On the exchange, futures volume for INR/USD was 1.08 million. Whilst this was down 23% from the previous month, it was up 81% year-on-year.
Futures volumes for USD/CNH was actually up both on a yearly and monthly basis. Coming in at 614,852, this is an increase of 45% from June 2018 and up a significant uptick of 308% from the same time period last year. This increase is not overly surprising as the demand for China-baset assets continues to grow.
In addition, the value of cleared over-the-counter (OTC) Singapore Dollar interest rate swaps was also up by 45% month-on-month at $11 billion (SGD 15.2 billion). Whilst this was an increase from June this year, it was still down 20% year-on-year.
For commodities on SGX, the results also left a lot to be desired. On the exchange, the volume for commodities derivatives was 1.26 million. This is only just up by 2% from June but it is a decline of 16% year-on-year.
Iron Ore Derivatives did slightly better. The total volume was 986,906 which is a 6% uptick from the previous month. When compared to the same time period last year, however, it was still down year-on-year.