Investor movement index decline due to ‘volatile’ market in September

Online broker said the index for Singapore clients went down 4.14%.

The volatile market in September impacted the investor behaviour as the Singapore investor movement index (IMX) went down by 4.14%.

According to international online broker, TD Ameritrade, Singapore clients IMX was at 4.17, a decline from 4.35 in August.

Overall IMX for all clients also went down last month to 4.47 from 4.82 in August.

READ: Investors cautioned against Fed’s decision to raise interest rates: broker

TD Ameritrade Singapore CEO Greg Baker said the decline stemmed from addressing inflation to big swings in currency values, amongst others.

“From the U.S. Federal Reserve’s commitment to taking a hawkish approach to fighting inflation, to big swings in currency values, to mixed U.S. jobs data and crude oil taking a nosedive, retail traders understandably took a risk-off approach in September, leaning into fixed income and investing in names built on solid fundamentals,” said Baker.

“After we saw virtually no change in TD Ameritrade Singapore clients’ exposure to the markets in August, given all the factors in play, they once again lowered exposure in September,” he added.

Another factor being attributed to the currency volatility is the US dollar continuing to climb compared to European currencies.

“The British pound sterling (GBP) briefly traded near parity with the USD after the Bank of England’s emergency intervention to relaunch its bond purchasing program, and the Euro (EUR) also struggled, spending much of the period below parity with the USD as soaring energy prices continued to rock the eurozone,” read the report.

What investors are doing

Both TD Ameritrade Singapore clients and the overall TD Ameritrade client population preferred semiconductor giants Nvidia (NVDA), Intel (INTC), and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) as the chips subsector underperformed.

TD Ameritrade Singapore clients were actually net buyers of seven of the S&P sectors including Communication Services, Consumer Staples, Energy, Financials, Industrials, Information Technology, and Real Estate.

Popular names bought by both populations include:

• NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA)

• Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD)

• Apple Inc. (AAPL)

• Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)

• Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)

Popular names sold by both populations include:

• Mordan Stanley (MS)

• Netflix Inc. (NFLX)

• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA)