Singapore stocks: Once bitten, twice shy

[specuvestor]

Board lot size reductions will remain even if stocks fall below the $10 and $100 thresholds.

Strange should just do unit shares and be done with odd lot trading

[weijian]

Board lot size reductions will remain even if stocks fall below the $10 and $100 thresholds.

Strange should just do unit shares and be done with odd lot trading

Hi specuvestor,

That is a good question and so I decided to ask Gemini about it. Below is the response (asked Gemini about it but below summary is my own):

(A) Compared to other exchanges, SGX does not have a minimum trading price (NYSE/Nasdaq) or minimum per trade value (ASX/HKEX), therefore unit share may not totally replace the odd lot market.

(B) Legacy custodian model: Much individual holdings are held under CDP (direct ownership) and not under any custody (eg. by brokerages). So unit share could create a "potential book keeping nightmare"

© Lack of liquidity Some kind of chicken and egg issue as SGX lacks market makers like high frequency traders/trading houses that aggregates multiple small unit shares into standard 100shares per lot. As a result, the odd lot market has to be there to specially serve trading between individuals.

[specuvestor]

Hi Weijian

Frankly the answers is why I don't trust AI

A) This is the only plausible reason which we can implement minimum trade value at say $50 so it's within minimum brokerage requirement and not cause trades with negative nett figure

B) Book keeping no longer big issue after SGX immobilisation of scripts and Annual Reports now digital

c) This doesn't even answer the issue cause this is exactly the constraint for lot size not unit shares that I suggesting

Board lot size reductions will remain even if stocks fall below the $10 and $100 thresholds.

Strange should just do unit shares and be done with odd lot trading

Hi specuvestor,

That is a good question and so I decided to ask Gemini about it. Below is the response (asked Gemini about it but below summary is my own):

(A) Compared to other exchanges, SGX does not have a minimum trading price (NYSE/Nasdaq) or minimum per trade value (ASX/HKEX), therefore unit share may not totally replace the odd lot market.

(B) Legacy custodian model: Much individual holdings are held under CDP (direct ownership) and not under any custody (eg. by brokerages). So unit share could create a "potential book keeping nightmare"

© Lack of liquidity Some kind of chicken and egg issue as SGX lacks market makers like high frequency traders/trading houses that aggregates multiple small unit shares into standard 100shares per lot. As a result, the odd lot market has to be there to specially serve trading between individuals.

[weijian]

Hi Weijian

Frankly the answers is why I don't trust AI

A) This is the only plausible reason which we can implement minimum trade value at say $50 so it's within minimum brokerage requirement and not cause trades with negative nett figure

B) Book keeping no longer big issue after SGX immobilisation of scripts and Annual Reports now digital

c) This doesn't even answer the issue cause this is exactly the constraint for lot size not unit shares that I suggesting

Board lot size reductions will remain even if stocks fall below the $10 and $100 thresholds.

Strange should just do unit shares and be done with odd lot trading

Hi specuvestor,

That is a good question and so I decided to ask Gemini about it. Below is the response (asked Gemini about it but below summary is my own):

(A) Compared to other exchanges, SGX does not have a minimum trading price (NYSE/Nasdaq) or minimum per trade value (ASX/HKEX), therefore unit share may not totally replace the odd lot market.

(B) Legacy custodian model: Much individual holdings are held under CDP (direct ownership) and not under any custody (eg. by brokerages). So unit share could create a "potential book keeping nightmare"

© Lack of liquidity Some kind of chicken and egg issue as SGX lacks market makers like high frequency traders/trading houses that aggregates multiple small unit shares into standard 100shares per lot. As a result, the odd lot market has to be there to specially serve trading between individuals.

Hi specuvestor,

LLMs are probabilistic in nature and they are not AGI. One of my earliest experience with AI chat bots - I was trying to verify something I read on VB.com (which I wasn't sure about) and turned to Gemini chatbot. It gave me an reply that referred to the same VB post I was trying to verify!

That said on an overall basis, I would say that AI has been as revolutionary as covid-19 has been in terms of my own learning, with the latter bringing online a lot of podcasts/blogs that I was able to access.

"Trust but verify" - I can't remember which VB I learnt this from. But I am quite sure most VBs are intelligent enough to understand the difference between "Using AI to accelerate our learning OR using AI to avoid learning"

[weijian]

For the past 2 years, I have probably read more 10ks (US GAAP) than annual reports (IFRS). While a 10k is lengthy, it provides much more useful information than the typical spore listed co's annual report. It brings an investor faster up to speed in terms of understanding the industry/company. Of course, the more informational 10k also make markets more efficient on paper, but I suppose it also has the effect of increasing investor interest (especially retail) and hence compensate with higher baseline valuations as well?

In addition, recently I read the annual report of Watches of Switzerland Group (WOSG) which is listed on LSE, and it disclosed a whole lot of information about the watch industry/company's strategy etc. In contrast, the TheHourGlass annual report isn't worth much of a read if not for Dr Henry Tay's annual chairman address. WOSG C-suite/IR director also attended over 200 meetings and met 250 institutions annually, compared to Michael Tay's meeting of one (ie. the AGM). On the SGX, there are a few outlier companies that sound/act like US listed firms and so their presence show that rules and attitude are different. The rules is the "tail" while the "attitude" is the dog. Will the tail eventually wags the dog?

SGX enhances disclosure rules to build a ‘value creation culture’ among issuers

Tan Boon Gin, CEO at SGX RegCo, said the rule changes “strengthen disclosure standards while preserving flexibility for issuers”. “We encourage issuers to look beyond the minimum requirements, and to provide substantive and meaningful disclosures, such that they can attract global capital and improve valuations,” he added.

Under the rules, an issuer will be required to:

- Describe in its annual reports the key financial and non-financial performance indicators used to determine the remuneration of its executive directors and executive officers, as well as how these indicators are aligned with long-term value creation objectives.
- Include in its annual reports a dividend policy, an investor relations policy, and a description of key shareholder engagement activities within the year.
- Maintain a website for investor engagement, or a dedicated investor engagement section within the issuer’s website, and publish the investor relations policy there. Issuers are also encouraged to publish other information including annual reports, minutes of annual general meetings, investor presentation decks and a calendar of upcoming events.

Under SGX Regco’s new rules, while annual reports must contain a dividend policy, issuers are not required to commit to a payout. But if they wish to retain capital for growth, for instance, they may say so in their policy.

However, David Gerald, founder and chief executive officer of the Securities Investors Association (Singapore), or Sias, said the biggest risk is the new requirements becoming just another box-ticking exercise. A boilerplate dividend policy or a generic statement saying a company “regularly engages shareholders” will achieve very little, he added.

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/compani...ng-issuers

[CY09]

David Gerald is right, it will just be a ticking box exercise. There is a need to go on Japan's route if SGX Regco wants to effect a change, but to offend the towkays is a big no to current regulators. So its likely all the measures we see put in place will become lame ducks

[EnSabahNur]

" also encouraged to publish other information including annual reports, minutes of annual general meetings, investor presentation decks and a calendar of upcoming"

This is very surprising and a little shocking. It's very very basic stuff

This is pretty standard for most companies in other markets, and the major companies on the SGX do the same.

[weijian]

MAS Announces Expansion of Equity Market Development Programme

Singapore, 12 February 2026… The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today announced that it will expand the Equity Market Development Programme (EQDP) from S$5 billion to S$6.5 billion. This follows the announcement by the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance at Budget 2026 today to top up the Financial Sector Development Fund to support the expansion of the EQDP.

2 The EQDP was introduced in February 2025 as part of the Equities Market Review Group’s recommendations to develop Singapore’s local fund management industry and increase investor participation in Singapore equities. MAS has allocated S$3.95 billion across nine appointed asset managers to date. The EQDP continues to attract strong interest and a robust pipeline of applications from asset managers.

3 The expansion of the EQDP will enable more high-quality asset managers with strategies that invest significantly in Singapore equities to be funded, and also catalyse more third-party investments into the equities market. This will further anchor deeper pools of capital for Singapore listed companies with strong fundamentals and support a well-functioning and vibrant Singapore equities market. The next batch of EQDP managers is expected to be appointed around mid-2026.

https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releas...-programme

Slightly more than 80% of the 6.5bil EQDP has been disbursed now. Personally I think Lawrence Wong should do a "CDC voucher" and do DCA on Spore equities by doing an annual top-up.

On another note, 20mil grant to support market making activities for a list of 80 eligible stocks outside the STI. I wonder if this list will be revealed in time to come? There are ~570 SGX-listed stocks outside the index and 80 makes up ~15% of the population. Taking away those suspended, mini-caps and those tightly held resulting in almost zero liquidity, the actual proportion should be larger than 15%, maybe going towards 20% (ball park guess). So this is relatively significant in my opinion too.

MAS Appoints Third Batch of EQDP Asset Managers and Commits S$20 million to Strengthen Equities Market Making Activities in Singapore

Singapore, 29 September 2026… The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced today the appointment of the third batch of five asset managers under the S$6.5 billion Equity Market Development Programme  (EQDP). MAS will place S$1.45 billion with the appointed managers, bringing the total allocation under the EQDP to S$5.4 billion. MAS has also committed S$20 million from the Financial Sector Development Fund (FSDF) to the Grant for Equity Market Singapore (GEMS) Scheme to enhance equities market making activities in Singapore.

MAS will place S$1.45 billion with the third batch of five EQDP asset managers. The appointed managers are: Amundi, Franklin Templeton, HSBC Asset Management, M&G Investments and Natixis Investment Managers.

These managers will draw on their global distribution networks to bring in new sources of international capital seeking exposure to Singapore and the region, which helps broaden investor participation in Singapore’s equities market. Together with the earlier EQDP appointments announced in July and November 2025[1], total allocations under the programme now amount to S$5.4 billion across 14 asset managers.

MAS is reviewing the proposals for a fourth batch of asset managers, and expects to complete the review in 2027.

-----------------

MAS has committed S$20 million from the FSDF for a new GEMS Market Making Grant to support market making activities in SGX-listed stocks till 31 December 2028. The grant will support appointed market makers in providing trading liquidity for an initial group of around 80 eligible small- and mid-cap stocks[2], as well as newly-listed stocks. It aims to facilitate tighter bid-ask spreads, reduce execution costs, and strengthen price discovery. The list of eligible stocks will be reviewed regularly to cover additional stocks that can benefit from enhanced market making support to improve price discovery. Over time, this can enhance market quality and trading liquidity, attracting greater investor interest in these stocks.

https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releas...t-managers




https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapor...me-6417836

[weijian]

David Gerald is right, it will just be a ticking box exercise. There is a need to go on Japan's route if SGX Regco wants to effect a change, but to offend the towkays is a big no to current regulators. So its likely all the measures we see put in place will become lame ducks

In his wisdom, David Gerald is probably right.

In Nov2025, the Equity Market Review Group (EMRG) transited into the Equity Market Implementation Committee (EMIC). The EMIC is in charge of the actual hard work of implementing all the proposals that originated from the EMRG.

The EMIC is co-chaired by the SGX CEO and MAS managing director, with another 12 committee members. Out of the 12 committee members, David Gerald is one of them. I have every confidence in David Gerald to make sure it doesn't end up as ticking box exercise for the majority.

Down the road, this could be a success. But success doesn't mean that there wouldn't be a minority of companies who will continue to treat it as ticking box exercise. For investors, we can choose to see it either as the glass is half empty or half full. For example, while I am glad that 10Ks provide a lot of information but I am also cognizant of the fact that it makes markets more efficient. Companies that only decide to tick boxes can be great investments under the right mispricing/investor neglect.

[weijian]

Interesting to read that the fund mgr from Lion Global Investors (LGI), one of the recipients of MAS EQDP program, saying that there is "significant amount of capital is now sitting with fund managers" and "The market at this point in time is more than ready to hand out crude capital".....

Dividends or growth? EQDP fund managers say capital allocation is key to valuations

[SINGAPORE] Listed companies should either reinvest cash where returns beat the cost of capital or return it to shareholders instead of letting it sit idle, said fund managers under the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Equity Market Development Programme (EQDP) at a panel. This comes as investors are ultimately still looking for growth.

Tan also called for more share buybacks, which are common in the US. But in Singapore, they are concentrated among large-cap stocks. He described them as “a very powerful signalling tool”.

Another panellist was Sherman Lim, portfolio manager for Singapore equities strategy at Avanda Investment Management. He noted that he had no strong preference between dividends and buybacks as it depends on each company’s circumstances. Where liquidity or free float is already low, he understands the hesitance to buy back shares.

However, LGI’s Tan indicated that many companies and their chairs are concerned about what would happen if new opportunities arise. They want to preserve cash for opportunities that could emerge in the future, even if there are none immediately in sight.

But circumstances have changed, he noted. With the EQDP, a significant amount of capital is now sitting with fund managers looking to deploy it into growth projects. Companies therefore should not be overly concerned about preserving cash for potential opportunities, he pointed out. “Pay out the dividend first,” Tan said. “The market at this point in time is more than ready to hand out crude capital.”

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/compani...valuations