Singapore retail investors use cheap cash to load up on stocks

SINGAPORE (Bloomberg) -- Record low interest rates are tempting some retail investors in Singapore to load up on debt to buy shares, just as the coronavirus outbreak creates the most volatile markets since the global financial crisis.

Earlier this year, 31-year-old insurance agent Heng Kai Sheng got advances on three separate credit cards to the tune of S$150,000. With the money, he opened a share-financing account at a local bank and pledged the lot as collateral.

He was granted leverage of around 3.5 times, a S$500,000 kitty Heng’s plowing into the stock market.