STI bounces back 14% as economy expands in 2021

2021 STI leaders were Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, DBS Group Holdings, and Hongkong Land.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) reported that the Strait Times Index (STI) generated a 13.6% total return in 2021, following a 7.2% economic expansion in 2021. 

The recorded growth outpaced APAC gains of 1.7%.

Price gain for the year stood at 9.8%, with an overall finish at 3,123.68. Reinvested dividends, however, further boosted this to its final value of 13.6% for the year. 

Leading entities in the year include Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, DBS Group Holdings, and Hongkong Land, with total returns of 44.6%, 34.8% and 34.6%, respectively. On the other hand, Dairy Farm International, ComfortDelGro Corporation, and City Developments made up the leading decliners in 2021 with decreases of 27.6%, 14.4% and 12.8%, respectively. 

Semiconductor-based TAIEX generated a 31.9% total return, whilst the Hang Seng Index saw a 10.6% decline in total return. Both of these contributed to the region seeing mixed returns in 2021, with the FTSE APAC Index finishing the year with a 1.7% total return.

Key contributors, as pointed out by SGX, include the global semiconductor stocks building up by more than 40% for the year and global bank stocks gaining 23%. In spite of this, global hospitality stocks ended the year in the red, with global airlines ending the year on a flat note. 

Meanwhile, DBS, OCBC, and UOB saw a collective net institutional flow of $1.75b for the year, with an average of 25% total returns. This is in line with global banks at 24% and a 60 bps upward structural shift of the 2/10 UST yield curve. 

Overall, the 100 most traded stocks of the Singapore stock market in the year averaged 25% total returns for the year, with a 9% medial total return. Topping this list were DBS, Singtel, UOB, OCBC Bank, and SIA. 19 of the aforementioned 100 stocks generated more than 50% total returns over the year, with RH Petrogas, IFAST Corporation, CFM Holdings, The Place Holdings, PropNex, Geo Energy Resources, Totm Technologies, Singapore Press Holdings, Rex International, ISDN Holdings, UMS Holdings, Q&M Dental Group (Singapore), Thomson Medical Group, Golden Agri-Resources, ARA LOGOS Logistics Trust, First REIT, AEM Holdings, Sarine Technologies and Frencken Group, making up the list.

Together, these 100 stocks hold a combined market value of $630.8b by the year’s end, 70% of the total $896.9b market value of all stocks listed on SGX.