Shares of Frasers Hospitality Trust (SGX:ACV) closed at 0.74 yesterday. Frasers Hospitality Trust currently has a total float of 1.89B shares and on average sees 685,021 shares exchange hands each day. The stock now has a 52-week low of 0.665 and high of 0.765.

Getting to Know the SGX

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) is the primary stock exchange platform in Singapore for 17 years now. It is the resulting union of the two major stock exchange platforms in Singapore, the Singapore International Monetary Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Singapore, that had merged in December 1999. This unification gave opportunity to Frasers Hospitality Trust to win new investors. All trading instruments in Singapore are traded through the SGX, which is now one of the most reputable and biggest stock exchange platforms in Southeast (SE) Asia.

The SGX is fully owned and operated by Singapore Exchange Limited, which is listed as a publicly traded entity on the stock exchange platform as well. It has gone public only a year after it was formed. The stock is a component of the two leading indices in the country, the MSCI Singapore Free Index and the Straits Times Index (STI). The STI monitors the top 30 companies listed on the SGX in terms of market capitalization every quarter. Frasers Hospitality Trust is trying to stay in every list.

Prior to the regular session that starts at 9:00 a.m. and ends at 5:00 p.m., there is a pre-market session that starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 8:59 a.m. The regular session can be extended until 5:05 p.m. before the market officially closes at 5:06 p.m.

SGX Listing

A total of 768 companies are listed on the SGX as of January 2009, 10 years after its foundation. More than 450 of these are domestic companies and more than 300 are international companies. The SGX is committed to attracting more international companies, aiming to sustain the growth of the national economy. The more international entities entering the Singaporean market, the more the potential growth opportunities the country gets.

Presently, over 90 companies have a market capitalization of at least S$1 billion each, making the SGX an ideal place for investors to bet on hot stocks. Their bets for Frasers Hospitality Trust shares usually create new alliances.

In the past five years, three companies listed on the SGX have demonstrated an outstanding performance. These include Thai Beverage Public Company Limited (SGX:Y92), which has gained a return of 216%; Comfortdelgro Corporation Limited (SGX:C52), which has gained a return of 123%; and SATS Ltd (SGX:S58), which has gained a return of 119%.

Helping SE Asia Thrive

CG Watch, a biannual newsletter, named Singapore as the number one market in Asia in terms of excellence in corporate governance this year. It has scored 67 points, ousting Hong Kong from the top spot with two points ahead. Singapore has improved its previous rating of 64 points as well.

This milestone indicates that Singapore is an ideal market for investors and companies alike. Good corporate governance strongly encourages investments and significantly boosts the entire economy. Needless to mention, it can improve foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow, which, according to analysts, is the key to the long-term growth of the SE Asian economy. International partnership is one of the main interest for Frasers Hospitality Trust.

Consequently, Singapore’s consistent efforts to maintain excellent corporate governance play a major role in shaping the region’s economy. It won’t be too long before SE Asia becomes as big as the US or Europe— thanks to the fast-paced and immense growth of the SGX, one of the region’s leading stock exchange platforms.

Frasers Hospitality Trust is the first global hotel and serviced residence trust listed in Singapore on 14 July 2014, comprising Frasers Hospitality Real Estate Investment Trust (??FH-REIT??) and Frasers Hospitality Business Trust (??FH-BT??). The company has market cap of $1.40 billion. It is established with the principal investment strategy of investing on a long-term basis, directly or indirectly, in a diversified portfolio of income-producing real estate located anywhere in the world except Thailand, used primarily for hospitality and/or hospitality-related purposes, whether wholly or partially, as well as real estate-related assets in connection to the foregoing. It has a 22.42 P/E ratio. With 15 quality properties strategically located across 9 key cities in Asia, Australia and Europe, FHT's portfolio value as at 30 June 2017 was approximately S$2.3 billion.