Singapore investors reeling after massive losses in 2015

The STI dropped 14.3% last year.

The past twelve months proved to be a tough year for many investors in Singapore, with the city-state’s largest stocks booking double-digit declines in 2015.

Data from KGI Fraser show that the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) dipped 14.3% in 2015, following a sharp deterioration in investor sentiment in the second half of the year.
Stocks tumbled after the Yuan devaluation in August, exacerbated by the continued decline in commodity prices and the anticipation of the Fed rate hike.

“The hardest hit was undoubtedly the oil & gas sector, where we saw declines of 46.7% for Ezion, 46.8% for Sembcorp Marine and 26.5% for Keppel Corp. The biggest bluechips were also not spared, as DBS and SingTel shedded 18.6% and 5.7% respectively,” KGI Fraser said.

Commodity trader Noble Group was the worst performer last year, losing 64.9% after a spate of short seller attacks and rating downgrades.

Excluding UOL and SATS, which are recent additions to the STI, only ComfortDelgro, Hongkong Land and CapitaLand ended the year in green.

“Overall, the STI firmly underperformed the rest of the world equities such as the indices in U.S., Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, as we did not see a similar recovery after the selloffs in the second half,” KGI Fraser said.