Yesterday, SGX jumped 2.4% to $7.62 against the STI’s 1.3% after announcing on Tuesday that derivatives and clearing volumes grew in February.  SGX’s Wednesday rally contributed 2.3 points to the STI with its stock price gaining 8.7% so far this year, outperforming the STI’s +3.9%. 

Continuous growth of derivatives and clearing volumes
According to the announcement made by SGX, derivatives daily average volume spiked 59% year-on-year (yoy) with a 11% increase month-on-month (mom) for a third straight record one-month high of 512,551 contracts. Volume rose 32% with the equity index futures volume gaining 26% yoy.

Drop in securities activity
Total value traded for securities fell 16% yoy with a 20% drop mom to $31.7 billion as there were only 18 trading days in February due to Chinese New Year. Exchange traded funds turnover fell 21% while value of bond listings dropped 25% yoy to $12 billion.

Record quarter for derivatives
In its latest 2Q 2013 earnings announcement made in January 2013, SGX reported a net profit of $76 million, with securities revenue gaining 9% while derivatives revenue rose 21% yoy. The quarter also marked a record quarter for the derivatives market as its daily average volume hit a record of 358,532 contracts.   

Tie-up with Google Finance
SGX announced on 25th February that it will be delivering live stock prices to Google Finance, making it the first time that live SGX data is available on an international public finance website. With this initiative, SGX hopes to increase global awareness for Singapore’s stock market.

Source: Macquarie Research - 07 Mar 2013