[SINGAPORE] The year to date has been marked by significant market volatility, with trade tensions and tariff-related uncertainty acting as key catalysts. Global supply chains have faced persistent disruptions as major economies imposed and responded to tariffs, particularly in sectors like technology and manufacturing.
Since coming into office in January, US President Donald Trump has issued a raft of executive orders and imposed wide-ranging tariffs on multiple countries and territories.
The policy shifts introduced have added a layer of unpredictability that has kept investors on the edge and prompted many firms to reassess their sourcing strategies and cost structures.
For the next US Federal Reserve meeting, rate cut bets are rising, according to Reuters, as risks rise that inflation may return due to Trump’s tariff policies.
Amid the uncertainty, what have investors based in Singapore been buying?
Brokerages MooMoo, OCBC, iFast provided The Business Times with data on the top traded stocks this year by Singapore investors, regardless of which exchange they were listed on:
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In the second half of 2024 prior to Trump’s inauguration for his second presidential term, tech stocks and ETFs were heavily traded by Singapore investors on the FSMOne platform, said Joshua Chim, FMSone Singapore general manager.
Chim added that at the time, investors not only invested in popular indexes such as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100, but they also took on leveraged bets via leveraged exchange traded funds (EFT), including Semiconductor 3X and 2X long on Nvidia.
“Interestingly, our investors continued to trade heavily in tech stocks in April 2025, amid a huge plunge in prices across global stock markets following Trump’s announcement of (the) sweeping tariffs impacting many countries,” the brokerage general manager added.
Due to the increased uncertainty, investors have been shifting to safe haven assets such as gold ETFs, with gold prices hitting an all-time high on multiple occasions. Investors have also flocked to bitcoin ETFs, as the cryptocurrency hit record highs this year.
But Singapore stocks continue to remain popular among local investors.
Said OCBC managing director of securities Wilson He: “SGX-listed stocks have always been popular among our customers. As a well-regulated and dynamic market, (these) stocks are recognised for their high and stable dividend yields.”
He noted that in particular, the three local banks have been consistently sought after by customers because of their strong fundamentals, consistent performance and reliable dividends.
“However there has been a growing interest in technology stocks, especially those involved in artificial intelligence and advanced computing,” he said, pointing to Nvidia.
