Thanks to Singapore’s deep integration with global trade and supply chains, half of the benchmark members’ revenues is from outside the island nation, according to data from Singapore Exchange Ltd. The International Monetary Fund forecast a 4.4% global contraction for this year, the deepest since the Great Depression, but less than its prior estimate of 5.2% in June.
Singapore’s emergence from the Covid-19 shock is gathering pace, but that isn’t boosting the nation’s equity benchmark.
That’s because the gauge is very much a bet on the global recovery rather than a wager on the city-state. The Straits Times Index is still 21% away from turning positive for the year, among the worst in Asia. Singapore’s plan to give a roadmap to the final phase of reopening and the ongoing decline in active virus cases has so far had limited impact on nation’s equities.
