Yangzijiang continued as the strongest performing stock in May

Which stocks led the Straits Times Index when it came to a total return basis last month?

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding continued to be the strongest Straits Times Index (STI) stock in May, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) said in a report.

This was followed by Sembcorp Industries, OCBC, DBS and CapitaLand.

The China-based shipbuilding firm had a 61% year-to-date total return, on the back of the increase of bilateral trade value between China and Singapore.

Non-STI stocks iFAST Corporation, Thomson Medical Group, ISDN Holdings, and Singapore Press Holdings were among the top five performers for the period, following Yangzijiang, among the top 50 most traded stocks.

May is seasonally known as the dividend payments month in Singapore, and has seen the STI generate a 0.4% decline in total return as of its May 28 close.

STI remains Asia-Pacific’s second best performing index, following Taiwan’s TAIEX.

Currently, the STI has rallied more than 30% from the lows of late October, but would have had to rally another 15% to hit the 3,600 peak of May, 2018.

The STI also outpaced the FTSE All World Index in terms of gains, with 13.5% and 11.3% year-to-date total returns respectively.