SINGAPORE’S Straits Times Index, or STI, has seen spectacular growth this year, with the 30-stock benchmark index rising by approximately 23.5% up to the end of August 2026. At the same time, the FBM KLCI is only up 2.7% over the same period.

The 20.8-percentage-point outperformance has become a talking point, to the extent that one wonders what we are missing.