Singapore is Asia’s best-performing stock market

There’s been lots of competition for the title of Asia’s bestperforming stock market this year.

Among the major equity indexes in the region, eight have climbed to records in the first four months alone. Today, Singapore’s Straits Times Index nudged higher, boosting this year’s gain to 6.2 per cent in local currency terms, and took the top spot from Vietnam’s VN Index, which plunged 2 per cent.

The city-state has its three big banks to thank for clinching the top spot across all major equity markets in the continent. Meanwhile, Vietnam’s benchmark index has been paring advances after a 43 per cent surge in the past year. The VN Index has fallen 14 per cent from a record high on April 9.


The country’s stock market more than doubled in value in the past year to $174 billion. Two of the markets which climbed to records this year --the Philippines and Indonesia --are now among the worst performers of 2018. China stock indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen are down by more than 6 per cent this year.