SINGAPORE — The Singapore Exchange (SGX) heads into the final stretch of 2025 with something it hasn’t consistently enjoyed in recent years: momentum that’s visible in both price action and participation—and a policy-and-product agenda that’s clearly designed to make that momentum harder to reverse.
With seven trading days left in 2025, the Straits Times Index (STI) has delivered a year-to-date price return of 20.7% (as of Dec 18), while Singapore REITs (S-REITs) are up 9% over the same period. Meanwhile, 10 S-REITs have attracted more than S$1 billion in combined net retail inflows year to date—an attention-grabbing datapoint in a market where retail participation is increasingly being treated as a feature, not a footnote. [1]
This late-year tape isn’t happening in a vacuum. Over recent weeks, the SGX ecosystem has been hit by a concentrated burst of market-structure upgrades, listing rule reforms, cross-border connectivity pushes, and new product launches—including a move into institutional crypto perpetual futures—all while banks and strategists publish 2026 outlooks that frame Singapore as a potential beneficiary of a broader ASEAN re-rating.
What follows is a comprehensive, publication-ready digest of the news, forecasts, and analyst takes shaping SGX as of Dec 21, 2025.
1) The market picture: stronger turnover, a higher STI, and REITs pulling in retail money
If you want a quick pulse check on whether a market revival is real, you look for a boring trio: turnover, breadth, and who’s actually showing up. November’s exchange data gave SGX plenty to point at.
SGX reported total securities market turnover value rising 18% year on year to S$35.5 billion in November, with turnover volume up 4% to 29.3 billion shares—an increase it attributed to interest in index stocks and REITs, with retail investors “particularly keen” on the latter. [2]
On the index side, the STI gained 2.2% month-on-month in November, pushing year-to-date gains to 19% and total returns to 25% (as cited in the same SGX update). The index also reached a new peak of 4,575.91 on Nov 13—a psychologically important milestone for a market that has spent years being described (sometimes unfairly, sometimes accurately) as “sleepy.” [3]
REITs, meanwhile, are doing what REITs do best in Singapore when conditions cooperate: become the market’s “income gravity.”
A Dec 21 analysis highlighted that the 10 S-REITs with the largest net retail inflows year-to-date were:
- Mapletree Industrial Trust
- Mapletree Logistics Trust
- NTT DC REIT
- CapitaLand Ascendas REIT
- CapitaLand Ascott Trust
- Keppel DC REIT
- ParkwayLife REIT
- Frasers Centrepoint Trust
- Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust
- Digital Core REIT
Together, they accounted for more than S$1 billion in combined inflows, with many concentrated in industrial and data centre segments—areas often framed as structurally supported (logistics/industrial resilience, and data centres as AI-era infrastructure). [4]
From a valuation lens, the same analysis noted the iEdge S-REIT Index trading around a 0.95 price-to-book, below its historical average band, with an average distribution yield of about 5%—a neat summary of why the sector continues to magnetize capital whenever rate fears cool even slightly. [5]
2) The policy push: “Value Unlock” grants and a blunt reality—many stocks still trade below book
A rally is nice. A rally with a stated public-policy objective behind it is… rarer. Singapore has been unusually explicit about wanting a stronger equities market, and one of the most discussed levers late in 2025 is the S$30 million “Value Unlock” initiative.
Market watchers have framed the programme as a practical attempt to fix a chronic SGX problem: good businesses that don’t get rewarded with good multiples—often because of thin liquidity, limited research coverage, and weak investor communication.
As of Dec 18, The Straits Times reported 614 companies listed on SGX’s Mainboard and Catalist, and found 353 (57%) trading below book value (price-to-book under 1). The Value Unlock initiative provides two grants (Equip and Elevate) meant to help listed firms improve corporate strategy, capital optimization, and investor relations—essentially, to help companies tell a clearer story and behave in ways markets tend to reward. [6]
This matters for SGX as an institution because valuation gaps feed a nasty loop:
Low multiples → founders dislike listing → fewer quality IPOs → less investor attention → lower liquidity → low multiples.
Value Unlock is one attempt to cut into that loop without pretending there’s a single magic switch.
3) Lowering the “minimum buy-in”: SGX board lot cut to 10 units for higher-priced stocks
Sometimes the simplest frictions are the most corrosive. One friction SGX is tackling directly: how expensive it can be for retail investors to buy a single board lot of Singapore’s higher-priced blue chips.
SGX has announced plans to reduce board lot size to 10 units from 100 units for securities priced above S$10. The change is intended to boost affordability, broaden participation, and make portfolio diversification easier. [7]
Crucially, it isn’t just ordinary shares. The Business Times reported the smaller board lot would apply across a wide menu: ordinary shares, REITs, business trusts, company warrants, rights, and depository receipts. [8]
The affordability impact can be dramatic. Using DBS as an example cited in the report: a S$53.70 share price implies S$5,300+ for a 100-unit lot—but about S$537 for a 10-unit lot. [9]
This is the kind of change that won’t make headlines globally, but it can materially affect retail flows, market depth, and ultimately liquidity optics—especially in a market where banks and other heavyweight names dominate index attention.
4) Post-trade plumbing gets an upgrade: modernising CDP custody to enable new services
Another notable reform—less visible than board lots, but arguably more structural—is the plan to modernise the Central Depository (CDP) post-trade custody model.
In remarks published by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), MAS Deputy Chairman Chee Hong Tat described a shift meant to facilitate wider investor adoption of broker custody accounts, while still leaving retail investors the option to keep CDP direct accounts. He also pointed to potential benefits like enabling a broader offering of services such as portfolio management and fractional trading for SGX securities. [10]
If done well, this kind of post-trade modernization can reduce settlement friction and make it easier for global players—who are used to different custody norms—to participate at scale.
5) The rulebook rewrite: SGX RegCo moves toward a more disclosure-based regime
One of the most consequential shifts in 2025 isn’t about a single product or incentive. It’s about how listing suitability and ongoing oversight are approached.
Legal analyses of the reforms highlight a clear direction: less prescriptive rules, more emphasis on disclosure that investors can use—a posture closer to what many “developed market” investors expect.
Key changes described in industry briefings include:
- A lowered Mainboard profit requirement (from S$30 million to S$10 million) intended to broaden the pool of eligible issuers, especially higher-growth companies that may not meet older profitability thresholds. [11]
- Removal of the financial watch list / watch list mechanism, consistent with a reduced reliance on visible “regulatory labeling” and a greater emphasis on market discipline through disclosures. [12]
- A shift toward disclosure of material weaknesses in internal controls/accounting systems (rather than forcing companies into binary confirmations), which is framed as improving transparency while avoiding unnecessary listing delays. [13]
This is part of a larger Singapore story: trying to increase listing attractiveness without eroding market confidence—because nothing kills a capital market faster than a reputation for being either (a) too hard to list on, or (b) too easy to list junk on.
6) Cross-border ambition: the SGX–Nasdaq dual listing bridge (mid-2026 target)
SGX’s big “connectivity” headline late in 2025 is the planned SGX–Nasdaq dual listing bridge, designed to make simultaneous listings easier by aligning prospectus disclosure frameworks and reducing duplicated paperwork.
Reuters reported the bridge is expected to go live around mid-2026 and is aimed at Asian companies with market capitalization of at least S$2 billion and global ambitions—letting issuers potentially use a more unified set of offering documents rather than navigating two fully separate regimes. [14]
The strategic subtext is obvious: Singapore wants to stop being the place where companies grow up and move out—with high-growth firms historically choosing deeper US capital pools. The bridge is essentially SGX saying: “Fine. Tap the depth—but keep a stake in the region.”
7) “We’re not buying Cboe Australia”: SGX pushes back on acquisition chatter
On the M&A front, SGX made news in early December by denying it was considering a bid for Cboe Australia, after reports suggested preliminary talks.
The Straits Times quoted SGX saying the speculation was inaccurate and that SGX Group was not exploring or considering an acquisition of Cboe Australia. The report also noted SGX’s prior history in Australia: an A$8.4 billion bid for ASX in 2011 that was blocked on national interest grounds. [15]
Even without a deal, the episode underscores a recurring theme: SGX is continuously evaluated not just as an exchange operator, but as a regional infrastructure player—and acquisition rumours tend to follow infrastructure players around like curious cats.
8) Trading technology: Iris‑ST “next-gen” engine planned for 2H 2027, consultation open through Dec 31, 2025
Exchanges live or die by their plumbing. That’s not poetic—it’s operational reality.
SGX plans to roll out a new trading engine, Iris‑ST, in the second half of 2027, and SGX RegCo has been seeking public feedback on rule amendments and functions through Dec 31, 2025. [16]
Among proposals highlighted in the reporting:
- Removing certain prefixes/suffixes from counter trading names (including symbols historically tied to watch list presentation) for clearer naming. [17]
- Adjustments to auction mechanics, including extending the “non-cancel” phase and allowing more “good-faith orders” close to matching time to improve the robustness of equilibrium pricing. [18]
This is the kind of infrastructure shift that’s rarely sexy—until the day it prevents a bad trading day from turning into a reputational crisis.
9) Product expansion: SGX launches bitcoin and ether perpetual futures—for institutions
In November, SGX’s derivatives arm stepped further into the digital asset arena by launching bitcoin and ether perpetual futures, with trading set to go live on Nov 24, 2025, according to Reuters. Importantly, the products were positioned for accredited and institutional investors. [19]
A Business Times explainer noted perpetual futures have no expiration date, allowing continuous positioning without the roll mechanics of dated futures. It also cited SGX commentary that perpetual futures account for more than US$187 billion in daily average volumes globally, with Asia a major engine of growth—yet much of that activity historically happening offshore. [20]
Whether this becomes a meaningful revenue driver or a strategically symbolic offering, the intent is clear: SGX is trying to meet institutional demand where it’s going—not where it used to be.
10) Listings and pipeline: signs of life beyond REITs
A credible equity market needs replenishment: new listings, not just secondary market churn.
On that front, Reuters reported earlier in 2025 that SGX posted its highest annual earnings since its 2000 listing, with adjusted net profit rising 15.9% to S$609.5 million and revenue up 11.7% to S$1.30 billion for the fiscal year ended June 2025—driven by higher trading volumes across equities, currencies, and commodities. The CEO said more than 30 companies were actively preparing to go public, calling it the strongest IPO pipeline in years. [21]
Reuters also reported SGX declared a final quarterly dividend of 10.5 Singapore cents and plans to increase dividends by 0.25 cents per quarter from FY2026 to FY2028—a shareholder-friendly signal that can matter for how global investors value exchange operators (often treated like infrastructure-with-dividends). [22]
And the pipeline isn’t purely theoretical. Reuters covered UltraGreen.ai’s debut on Dec 3: the medical imaging company raised $400 million in its IPO—described as Singapore’s largest non‑REIT IPO in eight years—and its shares rose 8% in early trading. [23]
Looking further out, Reuters reported IOI Properties exploring a Singapore REIT listing in 2027 with assets potentially in the S$7–8 billion range—another indicator of how Singapore remains central to the regional REIT machine. [24]
11) 2026 forecasts: what strategists expect next for STI and the SGX ecosystem
Here’s where the forward-looking lenses start to diverge—not wildly, but meaningfully.
DBS: STI target 4,880 by end‑2026, with risks clearly flagged
DBS’s “Singapore Market Focus (2026 Outlook)” set an end‑2026 STI target of 4,880, arguing for more moderate gains after 2025’s re-rating. The report also cited an outlook supported by FY26F earnings growth of 8.8%, and highlighted the STI’s FY26F dividend yield of about 4.5% as a continuing attraction—while explicitly balancing that against uncertainties such as slower GDP growth, tariff risks, and the US rate/volatility outlook. [25]
JPMorgan: “the rally has a long way to go,” with policy catalysts front and center
JPMorgan’s regional outlook (as reported by The Business Times) argued ASEAN equities could be at an inflexion point in 2026, and said Singapore’s rally has a “long way to go.” It pointed to new measures—including the S$5 billion Equity Market Development Programme and the SGX–Nasdaq dual-listing bridge—as catalysts that could lift return on equity to a historical high of 12% (versus 10% currently), and also cited a S$70 billion cash pile beginning to rotate from deposits into equities. [26]
Macro backdrop: growth expected to slow in 2026
One important anchor: Singapore’s macro trajectory is expected to cool from a very strong 2025. Reuters reported that economists raised the 2025 growth forecast to 4.1%, but projected growth would slow to 2.3% in 2026, with risks including geopolitical tensions and the possibility of an AI-related bubble bursting. [27]
For SGX, slower growth doesn’t automatically mean a weaker exchange—trading and listings can actually rise in volatile or transitional periods—but it does frame the 2026 challenge: turn policy-driven improvements into self-sustaining liquidity and listing quality.
What to watch next as SGX closes 2025 and enters 2026
As of Dec 21, 2025, SGX is running a multi-track reboot that can be summarized in one sentence:
Reduce friction, modernize infrastructure, widen access, and make Singapore’s market easier to choose.
The most meaningful near-to-medium term checkpoints are:
- Implementation details and timelines for the board lot reduction and CDP custody modernization (because operational details decide whether reforms actually change behavior). [28]
- Progress toward the mid‑2026 SGX–Nasdaq bridge and whether it attracts the targeted profile of issuers (S$2B+ market cap, Asia nexus, global ambitions). [29]
- Whether Iris‑ST translates into tangible market quality improvements as the consultation period closes (Dec 31, 2025) and planning advances toward 2027. [30]
- Continued retail and institutional participation, particularly whether REIT inflows broaden into other sectors and whether turnover strength persists beyond year-end positioning. [31]
SGX doesn’t need to become Hong Kong or Nasdaq to “win.” Its most credible path is more uniquely Singaporean: a trusted, well-regulated, multi-asset hub that’s increasingly interoperable with global capital—while still being investable at home for ordinary people with ordinary-sized wallets.
References
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