The outperformer since the start of the year is the Lion-OCBC Securities HSTECH ETF (HSTECH), which is up 27% (as of March 10) compared to the Straits Times Index (STI), up a mere 3% during the same time frame. HSTECH is the most liquid ETF and China tech proxy on the SGX.
In January, Chinese tech stocks came to life following the news that Hangzhou-based artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek can process data for AI more efficiently and at a lower cost than US companies. The Hang Seng Tech Index has been a major beneficiary, up 34% year-to-date as of March 10. At one point, this index had gained 38% since Jan 2.
Local retail investors can trade the Hang Seng Tech Index and access Chinese stocks through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and Singapore depository receipts. In addition, several China mainland-owned and mainland-based stocks are listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX:S68
) (SGX). Some popular names are Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, Yangzijiang Financial, China Aviation Oil, Yanlord Land, China Everbright Water (SGX:U9E) , Sasseur REIT and Tianjin Pharmaceutical Da Ren Tang.
