STI had a record breaking 2025, but one SGX-listed ETF drew even more inflows
[SINGAPORE] In the past year, retail investors booked S$2.6 billion of net inflows into Singapore stocks, bringing net retail inflows for the past six years to S$17 billion.
DBS Group Holdings , UOB and OCBC led in net retail inflows, chalking up a combined amount of close to S$3.9 billion.
In particular, the trio of local banks attracted a surge in net retail inflows during April’s volatility and “steady inflows throughout the year”, coinciding with the premium of their dividend yields over falling local interest rates, based on Singapore Exchange (SGX) data as at Tuesday (Jan 13).
A majority of the top 10 net purchased exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 2025 by retail investors were also occupied by Straits Times Index (STI), real estate investment trusts (Reits), and Apac financial-focused ETFs:
SPDR Gold Shares was notably the only commodities ETF among these 10 ETFs – ranking third in terms of net retail flows in 2025 – at S$141 million.
It beat the fourth-placed STI ETF’s net retail flow of S$113 million in 2025.
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The ETF with the top net retail flow last year was the Amova-StraitsTrading Asia ex-Japan Reit Index ETF at S$216 million in 2025.
As at Wednesday, its assets under management (AUM) totalled about S$677.2 million, based on data from FSMOne.
The top three holdings of the ETF are CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust , CapitaLand Ascendas Reit and Link Reit – Hong Kong’s largest listed Reit.
Lion-Phillip S-Reit ETF had the second-highest net retail flow in the past year, at S$170 million. Its AUM stood at S$825.6 million as at Wednesday, and its top holdings include Mapletree Logistics Trust and CapitaLand Ascendas Reit, data from FSMOne indicated.
Net retail flows of eight Singapore-listed ETFs in the past year crossed that of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust – which recorded S$23 million for its 2025 net retail flow.
CSOP iEdge S-Reit Leaders Index came in after, at S$22 million for its net retail flow in 2025.
Top 20 SGX-listed stocks with the largest net retail flows in 2025
Notably, DBS recorded close to S$1.4 billion in net retail inflows in the first half of 2025.
This amount was said to be concentrated in the two weeks that followed US President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, a report by SGX on Wednesday indicated.
“Between Apr 1, 2025 and Apr 14, 2025, retail investors bought a net S$826 million of DBS shares, while the volume-weighted average price declined to S$40.39,” said the report.
In the same period, the three banks booked S$1.47 billion in net retail buying, which accounted for 38 per cent of net retail inflows to the banks for the full-year in 2025.
According to SGX, retail investors continued to be “net buyers of (DBS’) stock” over 2025 – albeit at a much reduced pace, with net inflows amounting to S$381 million for the remainder of the year.
Meanwhile, NTT DC Reit – which listed on SGX in July 2025 – booked S$88 million in net retail flows for the remainder of the year.
The pure‑play data centre Reit also booked S$8.8 million in terms of average daily trading turnover for the duration of 2025 that it was listed, noted SGX.
It is one of two counters which recorded net retail inflows in the past year, representing 6.6 per cent of its market capitalisation as at end-2025. The other counter was Mapletree Industrial Trust .
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