SG Morning Highlights | Retail Investors Net Buy S$390 Million of S-Reits in H1 2023

Advancers / Decliners is 81 to 56, with 89.87 million securities worth S$59.72 million changing hands.

Property stamp duty collected in Singapore's financial year ended March 2023 fell 12 per cent from the previous year, with analysts saying the figure was weighed down by lower transaction volumes amid tight housing supply.

Stamp duty collections for FY2022, which covers the period from April 2022 to March 2023, fell to S$5.95 billion from FY2021's record-high S$6.76 billion.

Revenue from stamp duty collected in FY2022 was still 52.7 per cent higher than the S$3.9 billion reaped in FY2020, and 41.7 per cent higher than the S$4.2 billion generated in FY2019, based on data from the Accountant-General's Department available online through the Singapore Department of Statistics.

Gruelling asset markets in 2022 dragged all insurance participating funds into the red, causing double-digit losses for some.

Still, thanks to a smoothing mechanism, most insurers have chosen to hold steady their annual bonus rates this year. Some have announced a reduction in terminal bonus (TB), the component that accrues at policy maturity.

Last year was widely seen as an aberration in long-term portfolio returns. Sharply rising interest rates and higher inflation caused both equity and fixed-income markets to tank in tandem, robbing investors of the vaunted benefit of diversification.

In the first half of 2023, the iEdge S-Reit Index gained 2.1 per cent in total return terms, after a challenging 2022 which saw it decline 12 per cent.

Retail investors continued to be a key driver in S-Reits fund flow activities in H1 2023, accumulating net retail inflows of S$389 million, while institutional investors saw net outflows of S$485 million. A similar trend was seen a year ago during H1 2022 when the sector booked S$443 million of net retail inflows and S$360 million net institutional outflows.

By sub-segments, data centre S-Reits received the most institutional net inflows and retail net outflows in H1 2023, at S$26 million and S$43 million respectively. On the other hand, diversified S-Reits saw the most institutional net outflows during the period at S$348 million, while seeing S$280 million of net retail outflow.

The extension comes as the purchasers and REIT sponsor said that they were unable to complete the divestment as they have not secured the requisite financing for the divestment.

On Monday (Jul 10), its trustee-manager said the greater net loss was mainly due to changes in fair value of investment properties, which resulted in a wider S$297.9 million loss from S$63.9 million the previous year.

The latest set of results translates to a loss per unit (LPU) of S$0.273 compared to a H2 LPU of S$0.0661 the previous year.