NEW YORK, January 1, 2026, 09:34 ET — Market closed
Shares of Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX) fell 0.8% to 16.96 Singapore dollars (S$) on Wednesday, the last trading day of 2025, making it the biggest decliner on the blue-chip Straits Times Index. The benchmark STI eased 0.2% to 4,646.21 after minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s December meeting signalled policymakers were inclined to keep interest rates unchanged. 1
The year-end dip lands as investors shift from annual scorekeeping to a more practical question: will Singapore’s improving equities momentum hold in early 2026. For SGX, that matters because its revenue tends to track how active investors are in trading and fundraising.
Exchange operators like SGX typically benefit when markets are busy — higher cash-equities turnover, more derivatives activity and a healthier pipeline of deals can lift transaction and clearing fees. A quieter tape does the opposite, even if the broader index is steady.
SGX’s regulatory arm, Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo), said it will appoint Dr Sung Cheng Chih as non-executive and independent chairman effective Jan. 1, replacing Professor Tan Cheng Han. The SGX filing said Sung previously worked at GIC, where he was last chief risk officer in 2011, and later co-founded Avanda Investment Management. 2
SGX is also stepping up its pitch to Chinese companies, targeting “tried-and-proven” names across sectors including advanced manufacturing, digital infrastructure, consumer technology, healthcare and sustainable energy, a Straits Times report said. Chia Caihan, SGX Group’s head of capital markets for Greater China, said the first pitch is for familiar brands to pursue primary listings — a company’s main share listing — in Singapore. 3
Analysts cited in a separate Straits Times report said the bourse could see as many as 20 initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2026, including more listings from Southeast Asia, and warned that breadth and quality of issuers will matter for sustaining investor participation. “2025 has been a year of transition,” said David Cameron Smail, head of Southeast Asia equity capital markets at JPMorgan. 4
Those listings ambitions sit alongside policy efforts aimed at drawing larger, growth-oriented firms to Singapore’s market. Investors have been watching whether reforms translate into deeper liquidity — a key ingredient for attracting issuers and long-term capital.
Singapore is also pushing a cross-border angle. In November, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said it would work with SGX on a “dual listing bridge” with Nasdaq, designed to let issuers use a single set of offering documents under a framework comparable with U.S. prospectus disclosure standards, with a launch targeted around mid-2026. 5
Before the next session, traders will be watching whether SGX shares can reclaim the S$17 handle and whether IPO talk turns into concrete filings. With rate expectations still driving global risk appetite, headlines that shift bond yields can quickly spill into Asia equities and deal windows.
U.S. stock markets are shut on Thursday for New Year’s Day, and Singapore Exchange is also closed for the holiday, leaving price discovery to resume when Asia returns. 6
