SINGAPORE: In March 2019, 27 SGX primary-listed stocks repurchased as many as 50 million shares with a total consideration of S$54 million. This was up from S$32 million in Feb 2019 and down year-on-year from S$222 million in March 2018.
There were 27 SGX-listed stocks that reported buybacks of their SGX-listings over the month, buying back a total of 49.8 million in shares or units. The S$53.5 million in buyback consideration was two-thirds higher than the buyback consideration of S$31.9 million filed in February 2019.
Share buyback transactions involve share issuers repurchasing some of their outstanding shares from shareholders through the open market. Once the shares are bought back, they will be converted into treasury shares, which mean they are no longer categorised as shares outstanding. Other motivations for share buybacks include companies moving to align stock valuations with balance sheet objectives.
Last month, the Straits Times Index (STI) generated the thinnest of marginal gains, moving from 3,212.69 at the end of February, to 3,212.88 at the end of March. Dividends however, boost the total return of the STI to 0.3% for March, bringing the total return for the last quarter to 5.1%, Singapore Exchange (SGX) said.
As detailed in the FTSE Asia Monthly Report, Singapore’s Mid Cap stocks continued to be amongst the best performers in March within the FTSE ST Index Series, gaining 2.2% over the month. The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index generated a total return of 11.8% over the first quarter of 2019. [the_ad id=”31605″]