Singapore investors take a ‘risk-off approach’ to investing in November: TD Ameritrade

Singapore investors continued to keep their investment exposure low in November, according to broker TD Ameritrade.

According to its Investor Movement Index (IMX) for November, TD Ameritrade’s Singapore clients measured 3.93 in November, a slight decrease from the previous score of 3.96 in October.

This is in line with global trends for the overall TD Ameritrade client population. However, despite the low investment exposure, Singapore clients have been net buyers of equities, in contrast to the global client base.

TD Ameritrade says that popular names bought by both Singapore and global clients include Tesla, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp and Apple, while popular names sold were Nvidia, Netflix and Boeing.

TSMC was bought by clients as the semiconductor giant surged over 30% during the period following strong October sales growth, and clients sold Nvidia as its share price surged over 17% in November.

Singapore clients also bought into the recent strength of Alibaba, increasing exposure as the Chinese e-commerce giant reported sales growth of 3% and finished up over 18% during the period.

The company also noted that stocks like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase moved higher during the November period, but Singapore clients saw this as an opportunity to reduce exposure to the financial giants and were net sellers of both.

Greg Baker, CEO of TD Ameritrade Singapore observes that “We often see retail investors reducing exposure to the markets toward the end of the year, whether that be due to a desire to take profits, risk moderation tax plays, or other factors.”

He adds that if his predictions are correct, “we see market volatility moderating and inflation concerns easing in the weeks and months ahead [and] sentiment may shift amid optimism for 2023.”