Top utilities stocks averaged total return of 19.5% YTD

China Jinjiang Environment leads the pack with a total return of 28.3%.

The three best-performing utilities stocks have posted an average total return of 19.5% YTD, bringing its one-year total return to 12.5%, according to an SGX report.

China Jinjiang Environment leads the pack with a YTD total return of 28.3%, followed by Keppel Infrastructure Trust (KIT) at 21.5% and China Everbright Water at 8.7%.

Overall, SGX noted that the utilities sector was the top performing sector in September with a total return of 3.7% to outperform banks at 2.2%, real estate (excluding REITs) at 1.4%, technology at 1.3% and REITs at 1%.

In addition, the utilities sector was the fourth best-performing sector in 9M 2019 on SGX with a total return of 14.8% although it trails behind technology (42.1%), REITs (24.2%) and consumer non-cyclicals (17.8%).

Amongst utilities stocks, Sembcorp Industries has the largest market cap at $3.75b, which has a YTD negative total return of 16.8%. KIT came second at $2.74b, followed by China Everbright Water at $886m, China Jinjiang Environment at $859m, CITIC Environment at $742m and SIIC Environment at $638m.