Singapore Fund Flow - UOB Kay Hian 2021-06-03: Institutional Investors Were Net Buyers Of The STI In May

SINGAPORE EXCHANGE LIMITED (SGX:S68)

Singapore Fund Flow - Institutional Investors Were Net Buyers Of The STI In May

Institutional investors were net buyers of the STI in May 21, purchasing 70% more stock than what they sold, based on the top 20 most active counters. However, retail investors appeared to take the old adage “sell in May and go away” to heart, selling 40% more stocks than they bought.

A reasonably stable month, with activity picking up towards end-May 21 as institutional investors positioned their portfolios in the lead-up to the rebalancing of the MSCI Singapore Index, adding the Nasdaq-listed Sea Ltd and dropping Suntec REIT (SGX:T82U). The higher level of activity at month-end came after the STI dipped in mid-May, and in line with most regional and global indices, to trough at 3,032 on 14 May 21.

As ever, banks remained popular with institutional investors in May 21, with the telecoms and industrials sectors also seeing strong interest. However, the retail market saw things differently and were net sellers especially of the financial sector. Suntec REIT (SGX:T82U) saw significant selling by institutions as it was taken out of the MSCI Singapore Index on 28 May 21.
Industrial REITs and hardware technology sectors found favour with retail investors. The sectors, represented by Ascendas REIT (SGX:A17U), Venture Corp (SGX:V03) and AEM (SGX:AWX), are seen as being immune to any share price weakness stemming from tighter COVID-19 restrictions that took effect in end-May 21. May 21 saw a reversal of Apr 21’s positive sentiment towards SIA (SGX:C6L) with net retail selling of S$46m vs the prior month’s net buying worth S$180m.
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Based on the top 20 most traded stocks for institutional and retail investors, key divergences in stock calls were:
1. DBS (SGX:D05) with institutional buying of S$385m vs retail selling S$249m;
2. OCBC (SGX:O39) with S$273m in net institutional purchases and net retail sales of S$175m;
3. Yangzijiang (SGX:BS6) with buying of S$84m by institutions vs retail investors’ sales of S$102m;
4. Ascendas REIT (SGX:A17U), where retail investors bought S$120m against institutional selling of S$118m; and
5. Venture Corp (SGX:V03), with retail investors purchasing S$96m and institutional sales of S$74m.
Click the link to the stock info pages above to see the weekly fund flow summary of the respective stocks.

Besides financial and aviation stocks, some of the most actively traded companies for institutional and retail investors were iFAST (SGX:AIY) and Sembcorp (SGX:U96), which have seen strong share price performances year-to-date, up 183% and 29% respectively. In May 21, institutional investors were net buyers of these two stocks while on the opposite side, retail investors took profit.
Medical-related stocks such as Medtecs International (SGX:546), Riverstone (SGX:AP4), Top Glove (SGX:BVA) and UG Healthcare (SGX:8K7) Healthcare were also well traded.
See also

Adrian LOH UOB Kay Hian Research | Singapore Research UOB Kay Hian | https://research.uobkayhian.com/ 2021-06-03

SGX Stock Analyst Report BUY MAINTAIN BUY 12.350 SAME 12.350