STI outperforms global indices with 5.6% total return in Q1

Share buybacks reached $560M in the quarter.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 5.1% to 4,885.45 in the first quarter of 2026 (Q1), with dividends lifting the total return to 5.6%, according to SGX Group.

The benchmark outperformed the FTSE APAC Index (+0.4%) and the FTSE World Index (-3.0%) in Singapore dollar terms.

Since the end of 2019, monthly dollar-cost averaging into an STI exchange-traded fund delivered an annualised return of 8.4% by end-Q1, compared with a 10.5% annualised total return for a lump-sum investment.

Gains were led by sector performance, with technology up 17.9% and industrials rising 11.7%. Consumer Goods also advanced 13.6%

In contrast, mid- and small-cap segments were weaker. The FTSE ST Mid & Small Cap Index and the iEdge Singapore Next 50 Index both declined by about 0.7% in total return terms, whilst the FTSE ST Fledgling Index gained 2.5%.

Net institutional inflows focused on Industrials, Consumer Cyclicals and Telecommunications. Share buybacks reached about $560M in the quarter.

Excluding real estate investment trusts, the small- and mid-cap segment saw close to S$470m in net institutional inflows, with average daily turnover rising to around $670m.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia