In Jeremy Siegel's book "Stocks for the Long Run", it was mentioned that the best month for stocks is January while the worst month for stocks is September. October, although not the worst month, is the most volatile, having witnessed the stock market crashes of 1929, 1987 and more recently 2008. Let's review the case for Singapore to see if Singapore's stocks follow the same pattern.The table below shows the average monthly return for the Straits Times Index based on data for the past 24 years since 1988 (2013 is excluded as there are still 2 more months to go).
| Calendar Month |
Average Return |
Standard Deviation |
No. of
Best Months |
No. of
Worst Months |
No. of Best - Worst Months |
| Jan |
0.8% |
7.3% |
5 |
2 |
3 |
| Feb |
0.9% |
7.0% |
2 |
1 |
1 |
| Mar |
0.5% |
5.1% |
0 |
1 |
-1 |
| Apr |
2.7% |
6.5% |
... |
...
