Iggy's Journal: Record STI, Record Buybacks. One Of These Numbers Should Make You Suspicious.
22 August 2026, AM
News:
SGX-listed companies spent S$1.9 billion buying back their own shares over the first seven months of 2026, up from S$1.3 billion over the same period last year. Singtel alone accounted for S$893 million of that, the largest buyer on the exchange by a wide margin, cancelling the shares under its ongoing Value Realisation programme rather than holding them in treasury. This is happening the same year the STI has been setting fresh all-time highs.
My Personal Take:
One of those two numbers is the market doing what markets do. The other is a decision someone made on purpose, at this price, with this cash. That's the distinction I keep coming back to. A buyback at a low price, funded by real free cash flow, retiring shares nobody else wants, is one of the cleaner capital allocation moves a company can make. A buyback at a record high starts asking harder questions. Is management confident the price still undersells the business, or is this capital that would otherwise go toward the dividend, funding EPS optics instead of the yield income investors are actually holding the stock for. I'm going to be working through this properly with Angela on the podcast soon, and I already know her first question won't be about EPS accretion, it'll be about whether the money could have just been a bigger cheque in the shareholder's pocket instead. That's usually the question worth sitting with longer than mine.
Not financial advice. Iggy's Forensic Compliance Standards apply.