Two Chinese firms on Thursday were added to Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index (STI), which has been slimmed down and revamped in a bid to spur trading on the city-state's bourse. The index has been reduced from 47 stocks to 30 blue chips ranked by market capitalisation, with the included shares also evaluated on free float and liquidity, the Singapore Exchange said.
Eighteen other indices, including a separate China-themed index, also came into operation on Thursday, the exchange said in a joint statement with London's FTSE Group and Singapore Press Holdings, which owns the STI.
"This is a major milestone for the Singapore market as we now adopt a globally recognised methodology for our indices," Hsieh Fu Hua, chief executive officer of the Singapore Exchange, said during a ceremony. "We expect the revamped STI and new indices will stimulate the development of more index-related products."
Alan Chan, chief executive officer of Singapore Press Holdings, said the introduction of the other 18 indices leaves the revamped STI more comprehensive in its primary role of tracking the real-time performance of the Singapore stock market.