Bourse's six top stocks outpace STI in Q2

Wilmar leads the pack with a 29% return.

Excluding REITS, the Straits Times Index’s (STI) six best performers clinched an average total return of 21% so far in Q2, according to an SGX report. This figure has outperformed the STI’s average total return of 6% over the same period.

Wilmar leads the pack with a 29% return, followed by Venture (23%), Sembcorp Industries (+22), Yangzijiang (+19%), Keppel Corp and CityDev (both +16%).

Further, as many as 17 of the 23 companies that currently make up the STI ranked at least once amongst the STI’s strongest five companies for the five quarters spanning Q2 2019 through to the current quarter, SGX added. Three of the companies, Wilmar, UOL and CityDev, were ranked amongst the STI’s strongest five companies for three of the five quarters.

Another five stocks, Keppel Corp, Singapore Telecommunications, ST Engineering, Venture Corporation and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, were amongst the strongest of the 23 companies twice over the past five quarters.

“Had the investor held a balanced basket of STI companies that ranked as the best performers for each of the five quarters, the theoretical total return (excl. transaction fees) would have amounted to 35%, which would have outpaced the STI by as much as 48% based on the individual quarterly performances,” SGX said.

Meanwhile, the banking sector also provided a strong heavyweight cornerstone sector of the STI, SGX added. United Overseas Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp each ranked once amongst the five strongest companies in each of the five quarters.

Overall, REITs remain the fastest growing sector in the STI.