Top five STI stocks hit average returns of 13% YTD

Dairy Farm's returns soared to 19.2% YTD.

The top five best performing Straits Times Index (STI) stocks saw average returns of 13% YTD, the Singapore Exchange revealed, with Dairy Farm topping the list with its 19.2% returns.

ComfortDelGro comes at second place with 13.7% in returns closely followed by ST Engineering 12.1%. Jardine Matheson (10.4%), and CapitaLand Mall Trust (9.2%) round out the top five. 

“These five stocks have averaged a total return of 12.9% over this period, bringing their three-year and five-year total returns to 27.6% and 28.0% respectively,” SGX noted.

Also read: Singapore's top billionaire stocks hit returns of 29% YTD

Completing the top ten in terms of YTD returns are Wilmar International (8.7%), Singapore Press Holdings (3%), Singapore Exchange (1.8%), Ascendas REIT (-0.1%), and DBS (-0.9%).

On the other end, however, the five least-performing STI constituents saw average total returns of -31.5% YTD, with Golden Agri-Resources at the bottom with a YTD return of 36.3%. Also in the list are Thai Beverage (-27.2%), UOL Group (-29.0%), City Developments (-32.0%), Hutchison Port Holdings Trust (-32.9%), and Golden Agri-Resources (-36.3%).

Together, the five least-performing STI stocks saw their three-year and five-year total returns to -8.4% and -9.9%, respectively.

“Market sentiment has been impacted in recent weeks by increased global market volatility, as well as simmering trade tensions between the US and China, which have stoked fears of a broader knock-on effect on global growth,” SGX said. “Other lingering investor concerns include the anticipated increase in US interest rates going into 2019 as well as the health of China's economy, after Chinese banks' bad-loan ratio rose for a third straight quarter, raising the spectre of more corporate defaults.”