Singapore's link to US stocks off to sluggish start

SINGAPORE — Singapore's effort to offer trading in American stocks during Asia hours has gotten off to a sluggish start as rival products and wary investors keep early volumes extremely low, showing how hard it is for regional bourses to get a slice of demand for around-the-clock US trade.

Singapore Exchange listed its first three US stocks through its Singapore Depository Receipts (SDR) programme in July, with locally denominated shares in Grab, Sea Ltd and SpaceX.

Since then, just $2.3 million worth of SpaceX SDRs has changed hands through Sept 18, a small fraction of the roughly $2 billion in average daily SGX turnover and some US$336.6 billion (S$431.2 billion) in SpaceX stock traded on the Nasdaq, according to Reuters calculations.

The entirety of trading of SpaceX since its listing in Singapore represents 0.0007 per cent of its total in the US during the same period, Reuters calculated. A total of around US$24 million in Grab and Sea SDRs was traded in the period, compared with US$26 billion in the US.

Singapore's SDR programme, first launched in 2023, is one of several parts of a broader bid to boost an equities market that has long lagged the city's standing as one of Asia's most dynamic financial centres.

SGX has said the 38 SDR listings, which also include Thai, Indonesian and Hong Kong stocks, offer access to global companies during Asian hours and are not aimed at replicating volumes in their home markets.

Still, the lack of investor interest thus far has left liquidity low and underscores the challenge facing Singapore and regional bourses as global exchanges prepare to trade around the clock.

The SDR rollout was "anticlimactic", said Chris Forbes, head of Asia and Middle East at CMC Markets in Singapore.

"They're too late to the party ... everyone else has developed alternatives," he said.

Globally strong interest in US equities has driven brokers, exchanges and cryptocurrency firms to offer derivatives and other products promising around-the-clock US stock trading.

Nasdaq and NYSE Arca are readying a Dec 6 launch for a 24-hour trading programme, while the London Stock Exchange expects to launch its own in the first half of next year.

Grab and Sea declined to comment on their SDRs, while SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment. The companies were not directly involved in the SDR launches.

Luke Lim, managing director at Singapore brokerage Phillip Securities, which is the issuer designated by SGX to create SDRs by owning the underlying stock in trust and selling local units to the public, expects to launch more.

Carmen Lee, the head of equity research at OCBC, said local investors are usually more familiar with firms that are locally listed.

"Many investors in Singapore still not quite familiar with SDRs," she said, adding that they are also not included in benchmarks like the Straits Times Index or MSCI's indexes.

新加坡——新加坡在亚洲交易时段提供美国股票交易的尝试开局缓慢，因为竞争对手的产品和谨慎的投资者使得早期交易量极低，这表明区域性交易所很难获得全天候美国股票交易的需求。

新加坡交易所于 7 月通过其新加坡存托凭证 (SDR) 计划上市了首批三只美国股票，分别是 Grab、Sea Ltd 和 SpaceX 的本地计价股票。

据路透社计算，自那时以来，截至 9 月 18 日，SpaceX 特别提款权 (SDR) 的成交额仅为 230 万美元，仅占新加坡交易所 (SGX) 平均每日约 20 亿美元成交额的一小部分，也仅占纳斯达克 SpaceX 股票交易额约 3366 亿美元（4312 亿新元）的一小部分。

路透社计算得出，SpaceX自新加坡上市以来的总交易量仅占同期其在美国总交易量的0.0007%。同期，Grab和Sea的特别提款权（SDR）交易总额约为2400万美元，而同期其在美国的交易额高达260亿美元。

新加坡的特别提款权计划于 2023 年首次推出，是旨在提振股市的更广泛举措的几个部分之一，长期以来，新加坡股市的表现一直落后于这座城市作为亚洲最具活力的金融中心之一的地位。

新加坡交易所表示，这 38 家特别提款权 (SDR) 上市公司（其中也包括泰国、印尼和香港的股票）可在亚洲交易时段提供全球公司的交易渠道，其目的并非复制其本土市场的交易量。

尽管如此，投资者迄今为止缺乏兴趣，导致流动性较低，并凸显了新加坡和区域交易所面临的挑战，因为全球交易所正准备全天候交易。

CMC Markets新加坡分公司亚洲及中东区负责人克里斯·福布斯表示，SDR的推出“令人失望”。

“他们来晚了……其他人都已经开发出替代方案了，”他说。

全球对美国股票的浓厚兴趣促使经纪商、交易所和加密货币公司提供衍生品和其他产品，承诺全天候进行美国股票交易。

纳斯达克和纽约证券交易所 Arca 计划于 12 月 6 日推出 24 小时交易计划，而伦敦证券交易所预计将于明年上半年推出自己的 24 小时交易计划。

Grab和Sea拒绝就其SDR产品置评，SpaceX也未回应置评请求。这两家公司并未直接参与SDR的发射。

新加坡券商 Phillip Securities 的董事总经理 Luke Lim 预计，该公司将推出更多 SDR。Phillip Securities 是新加坡交易所指定的发行人，通过信托持有基础股票并向公众出售本地单位来创建 SDR。

华侨银行股票研究主管李嘉敏表示，本地投资者通常更熟悉在本地上市的公司。

她表示：“新加坡许多投资者仍然不太熟悉特别提款权（SDR），”并补充说，SDR 也没有被纳入海峡时报指数或 MSCI 指数等基准指数中。