The Singapore Exchange Group (SGX) released its monthly report for April this Wednesday. There were no substantial month-on-month changes, although there were significant increases in trading volumes this April from a year-on-year perspective.

In the securities market, there was a monthly turnover of 26.7 billion Singaporean dollars ($19.9 billion) - down from March which had a monthly turnover of 27.7 billion SGD ($20.6 billion). The decrease in turnover came despite a slightly higher number of securities trades in April.

Last month may have seen a slight decrease in month-on-month trading volumes, but in year on year terms SGX saw a 24 percent increase in total securities revenue. This was in part explained by the fact that April 2017 had fewer trading days. Nonetheless, year on year average daily trading in securities increased by 12 percent.

Derivatives Up, Commodities Down

The derivatives market experienced a similar month on month decline but year on year increase. The total derivatives trading volume for April was equal to approximately 15.25 million contracts. This was down from 17.37 million contracts in March.

In April of last year, however, the total derivatives trading volume was approximately 13.50 million contracts. This means that this April represented a 13 percent year on year increase for the derivatives market.

Commodities derivatives trading represented the only deviation from the trend towards year on year increases in trading volumes. Trading volumes for commodities derivatives decreased by 27 percent, month on month, to 1.16 million contracts. This represented a 23 percent year on year decrease from last April.