Straits Times Index

The Straits Times Index (STI) is a market value-weighted stock market index based on the stocks of 30 representative companies listed on the Singapore Exchange.

Launched in the wake of a major sectoral re-classification of listed companies by the Singapore Exchange, which saw the removal of the "industrials" category, the STI replaced the Straits Times Industrials Index (STII), and began trading 31 August 1998 at 885.26 points, in continuation of where the STII left off. Then, it represented 78% of the average daily traded value over a 12-month period and 61.2% of total market capitalisation on the exchange.

Constructed by the Singapore Press Holdings, the Singapore Exchange and Professor Tse Yiu Kuen from the Singapore Management University, it comes under formal review at least once annually, and may also be reviewed on an ad-hoc basis when necessary. One such review, for instance, raised the number of stocks from 45 to 50, which took effect when trading resumed on 18 March 2005. This change reduced the index representation of the average daily traded value to 60%, while increasing its total market capitalisation to 75%.

New additions included after 5 February 2007 include Thai Beverage, Suntec REIT, Olam, Genting International, Labroy Marine and CapitaCommercial Trust. BIL, Dairy Farm, Haw Par Corporation and TPV Technology will be removed from the list.

The Singapore Exchange, London's FTSE Group, and Singapore Press Holdings announced on 6 June 2007 that the Straits Times Index will be set for a major overhaul by the end of 2007. The number of component stocks will be reduced from 50 to 30 and at the same time, 18 new indices will be created. The trial values of the revamped STI and the series of FTSE ST Indices were made available on the FTSE website beginning October to facilitate technical testing .

Real-time intra-day values of the revamped STI and new FTSE ST Index Series are available on the following web sites:SPH http://btstocks.asiaone.com/keyIndices.htmlSGX http://www.sgx.comNextView http://www.investasiaonline.comBusiness Times Online http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/btmarkets/cwintro

FTSE also displays the end-of-day index values on its website at http://www.ftse.com/st

For details of the ground rules, values and constituent lists, please visit the SPH and FTSE websites at: http://www.ftse.com/st and http://www.straitstimes.com/stindex