This morning’s Straits Times highlighted an issue which makes the Singapore Exchange seem more like a third world backwater than a modern, progressive exchange: the impact the impending World Cup will have on trading volumes in SGX-listed stocks.

The paper reports that during the previous World Cup “brokers left their phones unanswered, preferring to stay glued to their television sets”.

Further, the Straits Times goes on to say that “turnover on the SGX almost halved to a paltry 5.89 billion shares worth $7.44 billion in June, from 10.32 billion shares worth $10.05 billion in May”.

I have no reason to doubt the research skills of Goh Eng Yeow or Ku Wei Bin, who wrote the story, and filled it with precise details as to the impact the game had on the market when specific teams were playing.

Other markets may well suffer the same issue, and of course there isn’t a thing the SGX (or the other exchanges) can or should do about it.

But times must be good if stock brokers can afford to skive just when things were getting interesting.

All those gripes about how quiet things are ring hollow when confronted with stories like this!

It’s reminiscent of taxi drivers – of which we have tens of thousands in Singapore – complaining that the good ol’ days when they were driving day and night are over, and yet it’s difficult to get a cab in the middle of the night some times because the drivers are visiting KTV halls or playing mahjong.

Please.

No more complaints about the lack of trading volumes or commissions while the World Cup seems more interesting than stocks.

It’s just another incentive to switch to online broking.

As always, I welcome your views.