Lawyer Stefanie Yuen Thio of TSMP Law Corp said: “Some of the announced privatisations have not been completed. Once they are, the market capitalisation will shrink further. All it takes is one large delisting to undo market cap gains from several small listings.”

“That said, the privatisations are of mature companies that would naturally have had time to develop a larger market capitalisation, while the IPOs are of new companies with growth potential. If these new companies can be growth drivers for the stock market, this, plus the increased number of listings this year and the dual-class shares proposal, should bode well for the stock market.”