Why did SGX outrun the field?
SGX runs Singapore’s only stock market. When trading activity picks up, the toll-taker collects. That is close to what happened....Singapore’s Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI) has had a year worth celebrating.
The SPDR STI ETF (SGX: ES3), which tracks the benchmark, returned 16.3% year to date (as of 8 July 2026).
Most investors would take that gladly.
Here’s the twist: three STI components out of the 30 left it well behind.
Singapore Exchange (SGX: S68) delivered a total return of 43.3% over the same stretch.
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (SGX: O39) returned 36.2%.
Singapore Technologies Engineering (SGX: S63) came in at 33.7%.
Each has easily doubled the index’s returns.
A rising tide lifts an index.
It does not, on its own, explain why three names pulled this far ahead.
The businesses did that.
The broad benchmark only partly captures what these businesses achieved, and the market appears to have rewarded that concentration.
