THE Singapore Exchange (SGX) is seeing &ldquo increased discussions&rdquo with companies that are looking to expand their investor base and seek additional capital, chief executive Loh Boon Chye said on Thursday (Jul 14).

 

Speaking to reporters after Philippine liquor giant Emperador&rsquo s secondary listing on the SGX, Loh said: &ldquo We have, I would say, more active conversations, more active discussions (and) increased enquiries. Some companies have proceeded to have preparations.&rdquo

 

However, he added that there is also a need for markets to stabilise around valuation. This comes amid concerns over rising interest rates and high inflation globally.

 

&ldquo We need the markets to find a base, to find adjustments between expectations of value and valuation between investors and companies,&rdquo Loh said.

 

Eventual listing activity would depend on market conditions, but Loh said he is &ldquo pleased with the increased level of discussion and conversation with companies.&rdquo

 

Over the last 12 months, SGX has seen 18 initial public offerings &ndash including 3 special purpose acquisition companies &ndash raise close to S$2 billion, Loh noted.

 

The interest in SGX listings comes from primary, secondary and dual listings.

 

In total, SGX has around 30 companies that are secondary listed here, with a combined market capitalisation of close to S$270 billion.

 

Some of the largest secondary-listed companies on the local bourse include Prudential, as well as Straits Times Index constituents Jardine Matheson and Hongkong Land.

 

A number of large companies have also carried out secondary listings in recent years.

 

Sri Trang Gloves (Thailand), which is primary listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, carried out its secondary listing on the SGX in May 2021, with a market capitalisation of around S$5.4 billion at listing.

 

In May this year, Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Nio also carried out a secondary listing on SGX, giving investors another location to trade its shares outside of New York and Hong Kong. The counter has a market capitalisation of around US$34.9 billion as at Thursday.

 

Loh noted that the performance of Nio&rsquo s listing has been good, with trading volume and liquidity better than their expectations.

 

Emperador, which has a market capitalisation of around S$6.8 billion, is the first Philippine company to have a secondary listing in Singapore, with its primary listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

 

&ldquo Across Asean we' re seeing good enquiries, increased discussion and obviously companies outside of Asean too,&rdquo Loh said.

TOTAL market turnover value on the Singapore Exchange : S68 +0.42% (SGX) slid 4 per cent on the year to S$25.6 billion in June, as total market turnover volume tumbled 28 per cent to 32.3 billion securities.

 

Month on month, the total market turnover value dropped 10.4 per cent, but the total market turnover volume rose 2 per cent in June, according to SGX&rsquo s monthly market statistics report released on Tuesday (Jul 12).

 

The latest figures bring turnover value for the January to June 2022 period to S$170 billion, up 13 per cent from the July to December 2021 period, the bourse operator noted.

 

Securities daily average value was at S$1.2 billion in June, 4 per cent lower year on year and 22.6 per cent down month on month. This comes as securities daily average volume fell 28 per cent on the year to 1.4 billion securities, and shrunk 11.3 per cent on the month.

 

The benchmark Straits Times Index is down 4 per cent year on year to 3,102.21 in June 2022, and down 4 per cent month on month.

 

The market turnover value of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) was nearly flat at S$374 million in June 2022, from S$373 million in the year-ago period. ETF market turnover volume, however, grew 109 per cent to 245 million shares, from S$151 million in June 2021.

 

Turnover for the January to June 2022 period was up 3 per cent from the July to December 2021 period.

 

Notably, derivatives-traded volume grew 24 per cent year on year to 23.5 million contracts in June, the highest in 3 months. In the first half of 2022, volume was up 13 per cent to 116.7 million contracts, from the July to December 2021 period.

 

THE Singapore Exchange (SGX) announced Wednesday (Jun 1) that the central depository (CDP) has made available to market participants a blockchain-enabled bond issuance platform by Marketnode.

 

Through the digitalisation of manual processes in bond issuance and the full elimination of a paper trail, the platform enables debt issuers to shorten the settlement time for new-issue bond offerings to 2 days, instead of 5.

 

The shorter settlement time is in line with the typical settlement period for the secondary bond market.

 

OCBC&rsquo s US$100 million Euro Commercial Paper issuance is the first transaction on the &ldquo direct-to-depository&rdquo platform, which connects debt issuers into SGX CDP.

 

OCBC joined Marketnode &ndash a digital asset venture between SGX Group and Temasek &ndash as a partner bank last December, and worked with SGX CDP and Marketnode on the maiden issuance. OCBC also acted as the sole dealer for the issuance on the platform.

 

Kenneth Lai, OCBC&rsquo s head of global treasury, said: &ldquo This latest automation and digitalisation across the entire bond lifecycle from issuance, clearing and settlement to asset servicing is a culmination of efforts and alignment of strategic direction from all involved parties to modernise existing processes.&rdquo

 

Lee Beng Hong, SGX&rsquo s head of fixed income, currencies and commodities, said: &ldquo The digitalisation of OCBC Bank&rsquo s bond issuance can act as a blueprint for us to operate Asia&rsquo s first digital bond infrastructure utility within a regulated securities depository, further strengthening Singapore&rsquo s position as a fixed-income hub with one-stop digital issuance for international issuers.&rdquo