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The Stock Exchange of Singapore markets itself as a haven of stability and tranquility. Therefore there must have been a collective sigh of relief there when Malaysia's currency turmoil in August took the attention away from what seemed like an imminent shift in policy in Singapore.
It all started when state-owned Singapore Technologies abolished in August the foreign-local share split in one of its listed companies and followed that by merging the dual tranches of four other listed subsidiaries. Such a move in a company so closely linked with the government quickly aroused speculation that more of Singapore's popular blue chip stocks would merge their foreign and local shares.
When Singapore separated its homegrown and foreign shares in 1988, the aim was to increase transparency and to prevent foreign...