Buyback value plunged about 60% to $590m in 2019

OCBC led amongst stocks in December with a total buyback consideration of $26m.

The total share buyback consideration hit $590m in 2019, nearly two-fifths of the $1.53b value recorded in 2018, according to an SGX report. This figure is also noted to be almost similar to that of 2016 and 2017.

Also read: Buyback value soars threefold to $52m in November

Nearly 80 stocks conducted buybacks, led by OCBC Bank, DBS Group, Keppel REIT, ST Engineering and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding. In addition, the non-STI stocks that contributed the highest buyback values included Keppel REIT, Stamford Land Corporation, Global Investments, Hong Fok Corporation and Olam International.

The share of buybacks conducted by STI stocks also shrank to two-thirds of the total consideration in 2019, from four-fifths of the total in 2018.

In December, the total share buyback consideration rose to $70.1m, from $52m in November. It was similar to the $78m in December 2018. OCBC also led in terms of buyback value at $26m, followed by DBS and Keppel REIT with $12.5m and $12.4m respectively.

At the same time, the Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.9%, taking its 2019 total return to 9.4%.