4 Stocks This Week (Top Institution Buys) [9 October 2021] Ascendas REIT (SGX: A17U); Yangzijiang (SGX: BS6); SGX (SGX: S68); ParkwayLife REIT (SGX: C2PU)

Stocks in Singapore fell 2.6% (or 2.9% in US$-terms) in September, fuelled by the global pullback in technology stocks. It was slightly better compared to Asia Pacific indices which fell 3.8% and global indices which fell 3.9% (in US$-terms).

In Singapore, institutional investors, commonly referred to as “smart money” net, sold in September – to the tune of $394.4 million. This was 53% higher than the net sold in August of $258.1 million. And this net sell was led by the three local banks and Singtel.

While there was a net sell in September, institutional investors continue to invest as well (just that the net outcome is negative). In this edition of four Stocks This Week, we look in the 4 most bought stocks in Singapore.

Ascendas REIT (SGX: A17U)

Ascendas REIT (SGX: A17U) was the greatest net bought counter on SGX in September, accounting for a net buy of $55.7 million. While this may not seem like a lot, we must understand that we're looking at net buy (after considering both buying and selling) and not total buy.

It may also be no surprise that Ascendas REIT is the most net bought counter in September as REITs registered a net buy of $140.5 million. Ascendas REIT is also the largest Singapore-listed REIT and is on the Straits Times Index (STI) with a market capitalisation of $11.6 billion.

Despite being the highest net buy counter, Ascendas REIT's share price dipped 2.4% to $3.24. Within the first nine days of October, Ascendas REIT's stock price has fallen to $3.20 or any other 1.2%.

Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (SGX: BS6)

Yangzijiang (SGX: BS6) is another counter also around the STI. In September, Yangzijiang's net institutional buy was $55.1 million – just a shade behind the very best spot.

Besides institutional investors, share buybacks done by the company can also point to reasons for buying the stock. Actually, we also featured Yangzijiang in this column just a week ago accounting for the top 4 stocks with the highest share buybacks in September.

The mixture of institutional net buys and share buybacks in September translated into a share price appreciation of 8.2%, from $0.915 to $0.99, in the month for Yangzijiang. In the first nine days of October, Yangzijiang's share price has tapered 1.5% to $0.975.

SGX (SGX: S68)

Another STI counter, SGX (SGX: B68) clocked in $37.Six million in net institutional buys in September.

While the pandemic is not kind to many sectors, SGX has seen increased interest and activity in the Singapore stock market due to the volatility it's brought. For its financial year ended 30 June 2021, SGX reported higher revenue and net profit.

In the month of September, SGX's share price rose 6.3% to $9.15. This represented some clawback from the 23.0% it lost in the three months between 22 April and 23 June – mainly after announcing the bulk of its license agreement with MSCI would expire in February 2021. MSCI subsequently announced it might move licensing for derivative products to Hong Kong from Singapore.

ParkwayLife REIT (SGX: C2PU)

The only counter not on the STI, ParkwayLife REIT (SGX: C2PU) rounds up the 4 counters using the top net institutional buys in September, with $33.8 million net institutional buy.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the only non-STI counter in the top 4 net institutional buys is surely a REIT. As mentioned above, REITs represented the top sector with $140.5 million net institutional inflow in to the sector.

In September, ParkwayLife REIT's share price increased by 10.4% – from $3.76 to $4.15. Better is that ParkwayLife REIT has already easily recovered its losses from COVID-19, and it is in fact 23.4% higher in the year-to-date 2021.