I was chatting with some friends online and decided to look up some stats. Since last year was pretty good for a lot of small cap stocks, I thought the performance of the MSCI Singapore small cap index would be much better than the MSCI Singapore index.
For reference, the MSCI Singapore index is a 16-stock index unlike the Straits Times index. And it is rather concentrated. This is its current holdings:
The 3 banks is about 60% of the index.
Here is the current holdings of the 58-stock MSCI Singapore Small Cap Index:
Here are some of the performance (in USD) if we take the data from 1999 to Aug 2026:
| Time Period | MSCI Singapore Returns | MSCI Singapore Small Cap Returns |
| Year to date | 26.9% | 4.5% |
| Last 1 year | 27.8% | 9.1% |
| Last 2 year | 37.0% p.a. | 12.3% p.a. |
| Last 3 year | 32.2% p.a. | 10.9% p.a. |
| Last 4 year | 25.0% p.a. | 7.3% p.a. |
| Last 5 year | 15.0% p.a. | 5.1% p.a. |
| Last 10 year | 10.9% p.a. | 6.3% p.a. |
| Jan 1999 to Aug 2026 | 9.0% p.a. | 10.1% p.a. |
If you are not in Singapore blue chips you have badly lagged. I think some may use this data to either emphasize only blue chips are investable or that you have to pick stocks.
I am not sure if that is always the case.
If you look at the 27-year result, the small cap actually did better.
So what gives?
I think be open to the idea that there isn’t much permanence in the market. As some are review at this point, they may be disappointed with their choices not to be heavy in SGX, DBS, OCBC.
And so now they have to decide whether to switch after seeing like 130% performance in the last 3 years.
It is a wise decision if SGX, DBS, OCBC are the unicorn stocks that would always do better than the rest.
At the same time, some may find it wise to respect the base rate.
Kyith is the Owner and Sole Writer behind Investment Moats. Readers tune in to Investment Moats to learn and build stronger, firmer wealth foundations, how to have a Passive investment strategy, know more about investing in REITs and the nuts and bolts of Active Investing.
Readers also follow Kyith to learn how to plan well for Financial Security and Financial Independence.
Kyith worked as an IT operations engineer from 2004 to 2019. Currently, he works as a Senior Solutions Specialist in Fee-only Wealth Advisory Firm Providend. All opinions on Investment Moats are his own and does not represent the views of Providend.
You can view Kyith’s current portfolio here, which uses his Free Google Stock Portfolio Tracker.
His investment broker of choice is Interactive Brokers, which allows him to invest in securities from different exchanges all over the world, at very low commission rates, without custodian fees, near spot currency rates.
You can read more about Kyith here.
