The exchange says that trading activity across multiple asset classes accelerated amid tech sell off and global policymaking uncertainty.

Singapore Exchange (SGX) Group says that the Straits Times Index (STI) climbed to the highest in over 17 years, at 3,886.98 on Jan 8, amid accelerated activity across multiple asset classes in its market statistics report for January 2025. 

The exchange said that trading activity accelerated driven by increased risk-management activity over the Lunar New Year holiday, heightened volatility amid a technology sell off and global policymaking uncertainty. 

For the month of January, derivatives traded volume climbed 3% m-o-m to 23.9 million contracts, with derivatives daily average volume (DAV) up 14% m-o-m at 1.24 million contracts.

Securities market turnover value gained 4% m-o-m to $20.8 billion, with securities daily average value (SDAV) up 9% m-o-m at $1.04 billion.

The SGX remained the most liquid derivatives venue in Asia during the Lunar New Year period, as the DAV of global benchmark SGX FTSE China A50 Index Futures rose 21% m-o-m in January to 470,495 lots (US$6.1 billion notional).

The volume in the SGX FTSE Taiwan Index Futures surged on news of DeepSeek’s low cost AI model, resulting in DAV being 6% higher at 23,597 lots. In January, DAV during the overnight session was 27,807 lots, 21% higher than the average in 2024, while the total volume increased 17% m-o-m to 1.33 million contracts.

Ahead of the Reserve Bank of India’s upcoming monetary policy announcement in February, global investors geared up to manage currency risk on SGX FX. The SGX INR/USD FX Futures traded volume jumped 53% y-o-y in January to 1.92 million contracts (US$44.4 billion notional), an all-time high, with a single-day T-session record of 184,962 lots (US$4.29 billion notional) achieved on Jan 24.

Meanwhile, heightened geopolitical uncertainty fuelled activity in petrochemicals traded volume on SGX Commodities, which rose to an all-time high of 2.43 million metric tonnes in January, up 42% y-o-y. 

This was driven by records for both paraxylene (PX) and benzene (BZ) contracts. The DAV of SGX SICOM rubber derivatives – the global pricing bellwether for natural rubber – gained 35% y-o-y to 15,155 contracts, on the back of an increasingly diverse participant base.

The STI for the month advanced 1.8% m-o-m to 3,855.82, against declines for peer indices across Asean, with cash SDAV increased 8% m-o-m to $1 billion, with growth in trading activity across all client segments led by REITs and index stocks.

Finally, the SGX saw a market turnover value of exchange-traded funds (ETF) climbing 13% m-o-m in January to $324 million, while turnover of structured warrants and daily leverage certificates (DLC) gained 40% m-o-m to $431 million. 

ETF assets-undermanagement (AUM) grew 25% y-o-y to a record $13.3 billion during the month, with the SPDR Gold Shares, CSOP iEdge SEA+ TECH ETF and NikkoAM Singapore STI ETF among the top three ETFs by net inflows. 

The AUM of the seven north-bound and south-bound listings under Singapore’s ETF links with Shanghai and Shenzhen crossed $639 million, up from $252 million a year ago.

Shares in SGX closed 9 cents higher or 0.657% up at $13.79 on Feb 11.