SG Morning Highlights | Singapore's Economic Growth Accelerates in Q2 2024, Beating Expectations

Advancers / Decliners is 145 to 48, with 198.10 million securities worth S$270.64 million changing hands.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore experienced improved health and performance in Q2 2024, as evidenced by the OCBC SME Index, which turned expansionary for the first time since Q4 2022. The SME Index rose to 50.2 from 49.7 in Q1 2024, with improvements in seven of the 11 industries, highlighting that four had shifted from contraction to expansion. However, OCBC predicts that the SME Index is likely to remain relatively flat and range-bound for the rest of 2024 due to uncertainties in the macroeconomic environment, despite the improvements registered in Q2. The externally oriented industries will likely benefit from the turnaround in global electronics, with potential improvements in broader manufacturing and wholesale trade, but downside risks persist given the continued disruptions to the global supply chain and higher costs, particularly in sea transport.

Singapore's economic growth accelerated in the second quarter, indicating that the city-state's recovery is gaining momentum as price pressures ease. Gross domestic product expanded 0.4% in the three months to June from the previous quarter, beating expectations and is quicker than a revised 0.3% gain seen in the January-March period. Compared with a year ago, the economy expanded 2.9%, beating the survey forecast for a 2.7% gain. The MTI figures were mostly computed from data in the first two months of the second quarter. Easing price pressures offer some reprieve, suggesting that financial conditions won't have to be tightened further.