SINGAPORE: Over the first 12 weeks of 2019, key regional Small Cap Indices have outpaced Large Cap Indices, a significant contrast to their less competitive performances between 2016 and 2018, Singapore Exchange (SGX) said on Monday.
Last week, five stocks with a market cap of less than S$1 billion were amongst Singapore’s 50 most active stocks by traded value or turnover: AEM Holdings, UMS Holdings, Hong Fok Corporation, Valuetronics & Rex International.[the_ad id=”31605″]Singapore lists close to 180 stocks that currently maintain market cap between S$100 million and S$1.0 billion. The 180 stocks have averaged an 8% total return for the 2019 year through to March 22.
The five largest capitalised of these 180 stocks are UOB-Kay Hian Holdings, Ascendas Hospitality Trust, AIMS AMP Capital Industrial REIT, China Everbright Water and Fragrance Group. These five stocks averaged a 10% gain in the 2019 year through to March 22.
As noted a fortnight ago, Singapore lists approximately 40 stocks that maintain a market capitalisation between S$1 billion and S$2 billion. Similarly, there are approximately 180 listed stocks that maintain a market capitalisation between S$100 million and S$1.0 billion. While the 40 stocks form a large part of the Mid Cap genre, the 180 stocks are generally recognised as a key part of the Small Cap genre.
In neighbouring stock markets of Indonesia and Malaysia, there has also been a rebound in the performance of Small Cap Indices. This has also been observed in Asia Pacific’s largest economy with the FTSE China A Small Cap Index rallying 38.5% in SGD terms over the first 12 weeks of the year. This followed a decline of 58.7% for the FTSE China A Small Cap Index for the three year period ending December 31, 2018.
Large Cap indices of these countries had outpaced these respective Small Cap Indices over the three years ending 2018. For instance, the FTSE China A50 Index declined 4.1% in the three years ending 2018, in contrast to the 58.7% decline for the FTSE China A Small Cap Index. The STI gained 18.4% over the three years ending 2018, while the FTSE Indonesia Index gained 37.3% and the FTSE Bursa KLCI gained 10.0%.
Conversely, in the 2019 year through to March 22, these Small Cap Indices had outpaced the respective Large Cap Indices.