(Feb 24): Singapore’s plan to lift local equities by investing S$5 billion (US$3.7 billion or RM16.54 billion) with fund managers is seen as a good start, while regulatory shifts will allow a wider range of companies to seek listing on its bourse, analysts said.
Regulators will also require some family offices to deploy a portion of their assets into domestic stocks as among initiatives unveiled by a government-led review group to help revive the country’s languishing stock market.
The measures bode well for a market that’s seen delistings outnumbering new listings and rising competition from regional exchanges. Prominent companies such as Grab Holdings Ltd and Sea Ltd have gone public elsewhere. Reviving the stock market has become a national priority for Singapore, as it heads into a general election this year.
The stock benchmark Straits Times Index erased early losses to rise as much as 0.6%, while shares of bourse operator Singapore Exchange Ltd surged as much as 8.4%.
Here’s what analysts are saying:
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