SINGAPORE – Investors have instantly responded to the Singapore Exchange (SGX) reducing board lot sizes for an initial 11 stocks, according to the SGX on Oct 6, one day after the scheme kicked off.
The 11 stocks that were selected for board lot size reduction saw immediate trades in the smaller trade sizes on Oct 5, SGX data showed.
The stocks are DBS, Great Eastern Holdings, Haw Par Corporation, Jardine Cycle & Carriage, Jardine Matheson Holdings, Keppel, OCBC, Prudential, SGX, UOB and Venture Corporation.
These 11 are higher priced securities that accounted for 35% of trading activity on the SGX in the first six months of 2026.
From Oct 5, for stocks priced between $10 and $100 a share, the minimum trading quantity was cut from 100 units to 10.
For stocks trading on the bourse with a price above $100, the minimum trading size is now just one unit, down from 100 shares.
SGX said: “The initiative enhances both accessibility and trading flexibility by reducing minimum transaction sizes for higher-priced securities, allowing investors to build and adjust positions in smaller increments.”
For example, an investor seeking a 100-share position in DBS on Oct 5 could have accumulated that position through multiple 10-share transactions over the trading day rather than a single 100-share trade.
“This provides greater flexibility to stage entries, average costs, rebalance portfolios and manage capital deployment more precisely,” SGX said.
Among the impacted stocks, 10-share lots were traded substantially more frequently than the traditional 100-share lots on Oct 5, SGX noted. More than 20,000 10-share trades were executed.
The 10-share lots were also the most common trade size in nine of the 10 actively traded stocks, led by DBS with around 5,000 trades.
Keppel was the outlier, where 100-share lots remained the most popular trade size. However, 10-share lots were still a close second.
Jardine Matheson Holdings recorded the strongest adoption, with about one-third of its trades executed in 10-share lots and a median trade size of 20 shares.
Across the trade data analysed for the 11 stocks, around 55% of trades on Oct 5 were executed in trade sizes below the previous 100-share board lot.
SGX also noted that liquidity trends for the inaugural cohort of these 11 stocks were relatively resilient.
By Oct 5, eight of the 11 stocks recorded higher 2H26 average daily turnover than on Oct 2.
These stocks were Prudential PLC, Venture Corporation, Jardine Matheson Southeast Asia, SGX, Keppel, UOB, Jardine Matheson Holdings and Haw Par Corporation.
SGX added: “Liquidity in the inaugural cohort remained broadly stable despite softer market-wide trading activity, with the majority of constituents recording higher turnover over the period.”
SGX also said that the first-day data indicates that investors “utilised the additional flexibility provided by the revised board lot structure.”
The market also responded well to the move. Young investors from tertiary institutions said on Oct 5 that the move makes entering the local equities market more accessible, especially for those who cannot commit a large amount of capital.
It also made investing less intimidating for young investors starting out, they said.
The Straits Times Index (STI) rose slightly higher by 0.15% during the morning trading session of Oct 5, ending the day up 0.52% at 5,664.33.
It extended its gains on Oct 6, rising 0.7% to 5,701.54.
The three local banks also saw gains, with DBS rising 0.9%, UOB up 1.5% and OCBC up 1%.
SGX was also up 1.4% and Haw Par was up 0.7%. However, Venture Corp was down 1.5%, Keppel down 1.3% and Great Eastern down 0.1%.
