Singapore’s stock market notched up its strongest performance since 2009 last year, but its success in attracting investor flows has so far shown only modest signs of arresting its decades-long struggle for new listings.
The Straits Times index of the top 30 companies listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) rose 23 per cent in 2025 and crossed the 5,000 mark for the first time in February, just as Prime Minister Lawrence Wong promised incentives to support the stock market.
His pledge follows other initiatives that SGX, Monetary Authority of Singapore and the government have taken to improve the meagre number of initial public offerings, which has been blamed on low trading volumes and its small investor base.
There are signs these efforts are beginning to work, with IPOs rising from six in 2024 to 16 last year, but this pales in comparison with regional rival Hong Kong’s 119 IPOs in 2025.
SGX is also still suffering from more delistings and mergers than IPOs, as private equity firms buy public companies and smaller businesses go private. The number of listed companies fell to a 20-year low of 605 in October.
