• Close to 20 of Singapore’s most traded 200 stocks in 2022 saw average daily trading turnover at least double from 2021 levels. In six cases, average daily trading turnover grew more than tenfold. These stocks spanned eight Sectors, with as many as six of the 20 stocks with the most trading turnover growth representing the Industrials Sector.
   
• Acesian Partners, a homegrown engineering group and duct manufacturer, saw its trading turnover soar by more than 700x in 2022 to S$690k a day. In April, the Catalist-listed company announced several significant new sales orders for supply of coated ducts and fittings, with the share price rallying 162% over the 2022 year.
   
• Parkson Retail saw the biggest price gain of the 20 stocks in 2022, rallying from 1.1 cents to 8.2 cents, before returning to 6.7 cents on 16 Jan. The stock, which is currently on the SGX Watchlist, saw its trading turnover grow 55-fold in 2022 from 2021, and has continued to rank among Singapore’s 100 most trade stocks in the 2023 YTD.
   
• IHH Healthcare maintains the highest market cap of the 20 stocks, followed by First Resources. While IHH Healthcare’s share price declined 14% in 2022, its average daily trading turnover increased more than threefold. First Resources saw its average daily trading turnover more than double in 2022, while its share price declined 2%.  
   
• The Hour Glass currently maintains the tightest Bid/Ask spread of the 20 stocks, at 51bps. While The Hour Glass’ share price ended flat at S$2.04 in 2022, the specialty luxury watch retail group traded within a $0.77 trading range over the year, after gaining 155% or S$1.24 in 2021.

Among the 200 most traded Singapore-listed stocks in 2022, multiple stocks booked significant trading turnover growth from 2021. A trio of Catalist-listed stocks, for instance, comprising Acesian Partners, Pollux Properties and Nippecraft booked combined average daily trading turnover of S$1.40 million in 2022, up significantly from S$0.03 million in 2021.

Excluding those stocks among the 200 stocks that were listed for a short time in 2021, are currently subject to offers, merged, suspended or currently average Bid to Ask spreads of more than 500 bps, the 20 stocks that saw the most trading turnover growth included 15 Mainboard-listed stocks and five Catalist-listed stocks. These 20 stocks spanned eight Sectors and include two stocks that are currently placed under Watch-list by SGX, as per the Watch-list rules found in Part V of Chapter 13 of the SGX-ST Listing Rules Manual.

The table below details these 20 stocks and is sort by 2022 average daily turnover percentage growth to 2021.

 Source: SGX, Bloomberg, Refinitiv (Data as of 16 Jan 2023)^ note on SGX Watch List.

Among Singapore’s 200 most traded stocks of 2022, Catalist-listed Acesian Partners saw the largest percentage increase in average daily trading turnover. Founded in Singapore in 1998, Acesian Partners is a multi-disciplinary group serving as a one-stop provider of environmental solutions and integrated services to diverse industries including the semiconductor, wastewater treatment, chemical, pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries. On 27 April 2022, Acesian Partners announced several significant new sales orders from existing customers, for the supply of coated ducts and fittings with an aggregate value of approximately S$16.7 million. This deal saw Acesian Partners rank as the strongest performing stock of the iEdge Singapore Advanced Manufacturing Index in 2022. As detailed in the table above, the stock maintained a S$20.7 million market capitalisation at the end of 2022 and generated a 162% price gain, while also booking above-average volatility. SGX StockFacts current and respective P/E, P/B and P/CF multiples for the stock are 5.2x, 2.0x and 4.2x.

Parkson Retail Asia saw the biggest price gain of the above tabled 20 stocks in 2022, rallying from 1.1 cents to 8.2 cents, before retracing to 6.7 cents on 16 Jan. The stock, which is currently on the SGX Watchlist, saw its trading turnover grow 55-fold in 2022 from 2021, and has continued to rank among Singapore’s 100 most trade stocks in the 2023 YTD. On 28 Nov 2022, the Group announced it had been granted approval from the SGX on its application for an extension of time to 2 Dec 2023, to meet the requirements of Rule 1314 of the Listing Manual to exit from the Watch-List to. On 14 Nov, the Group reported 9MFY22 (ended 30 Sep) profit before tax of S$31.0 million compared with loss before tax of S$4.5 million in 9MFY21, largely due to higher sales attained by the Malaysia operation as a result of the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic against forms of COVID-19 restrictions in 9MFY21.

IHH Healthcare Berhad maintains the largest market capitalisation  of the 20 stocks, followed by First Resources.

• While IHH Healthcare Berhad’s share price declined 14% in 2022, its average daily trading turnover expanded by more than threefold. On 29 Nov IHH Healthcare Berhad reported its 9MFY22 (ended 30 Sep) revenue increased 4%, while EBITDA decreased 6% mainly due to a high base a year ago and MFRS 129-related adjustments.
   
• First Resources saw its average daily trading turnover more than double in 2022. While its share price declined 2%, the palm oil producer saw a trading range of more than S$1.00 for the first time since 2008. Together the trio of Golden Agri-Resources, First Resources and Bumitama Agri were driven by both supply and demand developments for Crude Palm Oil. While averaging 3.1% price gains in 2022, the trio of producers saw S$13.4 million of combined average daily turnover in 2022, up from S$6.9 million in 2021.

The Hour Glass currently maintains the tightest bid offer spread of the 20 stocks at 51 basis points, based on observations over the past five sessions. While the Hour Glass’ share price ended flat at S$2.04 in 2022, the specialty luxury watch retail group traded within a $0.77 trading range, after gaining S$1.24 or 155% in 2021. On 2 Nov, The Hour Glass reported its 1HFY23 (ended 30 Sep) profit before tax of S$107 million up 37% from 1HFY22.