Is Singapore's IT market poised for a downturn?

IT hardware segment is expected to grow 20.2% in 2020.

In the recent PwC's Cities of Opportunities index, Singapore took the top position for technology readiness sub-index. The strong performance of the city-state's IT sector in the stocks market reflect just that.

According to a report by SGX My Gateway, the IT sector, which comprises 77 stocks, averaged a total returns of 5.8% in September.

The five best-performing IT stocks in terms of total returns in the year-to-date are Jadason Enterprises (+130.0%), 8telecom International Holdings (+107.6%), CEI (+92.3%), Fischer Tech (+74.8%) and AEM Holdings (+71.7%).

"These five averaged a YTD total return of 95.3%," the report noted.

For the month of July and August, the IT sector averaged a market cap-weighted total returns of 4.6% and 7.8% respectively, bringing total returns in the year thus far to 7.6%.

In the first eight months, it has been the third best performing sector behind Consumer staples and REITs.

Quoting a recent study by MarketLine, the report stated that client computing & peripherals is the largest segment of Singapore’s IT hardware market, accounting for 58.5% of the market's total value.

"Singapore’s IT hardware segment is forecast to grow to $2.4 billion in 2020, reflecting an increase of 20.2% from 2015," it cited.

With this forecast, the report claims 51 stocks categorized as technology hardware and equipment under the Global Industry Classification System would greatly benefit from the said surge.