OREANDA-NEWS. While the MSCI World Information Technology Index declined 0.4% on a SGD basis last week, Singapore’s three largest capitalised information technology (IT) stocks generated mixed gains over the five sessions.

These three largest IT stocks represent a microcosm of  the IT sector. Last week, Silverlake Axis, from the Software & Services segment,  gained 15.2% in price. Venture Corporation, which represents Technology Hardware & Equipment, rose 1.9%, while STATS ChipPAC, which is categorised under Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment, advanced 1.0%.

The Different Business Segments of the IT Sector

The Software and Services industry group includes companies engaged in developing and producing application, systems and home entertainment software, as well as providers of IT consulting and other Internet services. The Technology Hardware and Equipment industry group comprises manufacturers and distributors of communications, computer hardware and general electronic equipment, while the Semiconductors group consists of producers of semiconductor equipment, components and related products. These sector definitions are used by the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®), which is also used to categorise stocks on SGX StockFacts.

There are 86 IT companies listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX), with a combined market capitalisation of S\$14.3 billion and generating an average dividend yield of 4.8%. In the year thus far, they averaged a 13.5% price gain and dividend-boosted returns of 16.2%.

The 10 largest technology stocks have a combined market capitalisation of S\$8.8 billion, which represents more than 60% of the entire sector. These companies averaged a dividend yield of 4.1% and trade at an average price-earnings ratio of 20.8. These 10 companies averaged a price gain of 2.4% and dividend-adjusted returns of 4.0% in the year-to-date.

The five strongest performers among the 10 in the year-to-date were iFAST Corporation (+35.3%), Chuan Hup Holdings (+22.2%), GP Industries (+19.8%), STATS ChipPAC (+7.3%), and Venture Corporation (+6.9%).

The table below is sorted based on market capitalisation. Note that clicking on a company’s name will take you to its relevant page on StockFacts.

Source: SGX StockFacts, data as of 19 June 2015; note TPV Technology is not included in table above due to reduced trading activity in 2015 to-date

The stocks that recently traded closest to their 12-month highs were GP Industries, Chuan Hup Holdings, iFAST Corporation, Venture Corporation, and GSH Corporation. Four of these five companies – GP Industries, Chuan Hup Holdings, Venture Corporation and iFAST Corporation – traded at their 52-week highs in the last three months.

Source: SGX StockFacts