Chart of the Day: Share buybacks ballooned 303.71% to $109m

But it crashed 37.5% from $174m in June.

This chart from Singapore Exchange (SGX) shows that firms’ share buybacks skyrocketed 303.71% YoY to $174m in July 2018 from $27m.

“A similar trend was observed for the first seven months of 2018 with the total buyback consideration of S$948 million, comparing to S$228 million for the first seven months of 2017,” SGX said.

However, the buybacks crashed 37.5% MoM to $109m in July from $174m in June. The chart also revealed that the spree was at its peak in March with buybacks totalling $222m.

SGX noted that 37 stocks bought back a total of 52.455 million shares in July led by Strait Times Index (STI) constituents. UOB tops the list by buying back 1.23 million shares in July for $32.76m, followed by DBS, which bought back 585,000 shares for $21.55m. Non-STI stock Wing Tai Holdings also joined the shopping spree with 5.56 million shares brought back for $10.72m.