SINGAPORE'S brokers will soon regain access to 'live' values of the recently revamped Straits Times Index (STI) on their trading terminals, after a six month-standoff with the three firms behind the revamped STI ended yesterday.

By June 13, real-time values of the STI and the FTSE ST Index Series will be delivered to the brokers' trading terminals and the Internet trading accounts of retail investors.

This was part of an deal reached between the Securities Association of Singapore (SAS) and the three index partners - the Singapore Exchange (SGX), Singapore Press Holdings and the FTSE Group.

The move brings a sigh of relief to remisiers and dealers in trading rooms all across the island, who say they have been inconvenienced in recent months by not having live STI values on their trading terminals.

The STI was relaunched on Jan 10 by the three partners, together with 18 FTSE ST indexes that tracked various segments of the local market. Since then, however, Singapore's brokerages had stopped carrying index values of the STI and the other indexes on their trading terminals and websites.

That was because the SAS, which represents the stockbroking community, decided to boycott the data feed over a fee dispute.

It was apparently unhappy with a monthly 'per user' charge of US$6 (S$8.17) for each terminal used by a remisier or dealer, and another monthly charge for any retail investor that had an Internet trading account with a broker.

The FTSE and its partners then offered to waive these fees for a year, but their gesture was rejected by the SAS, which wanted the fee to be scrapped entirely.

Sources told The Straits Times a deal was finally reached yesterday, after the partners agreed to waive the controversial per user charge for remisiers and their clients until 2012, when they would review the situation again.

The brokers have, however, agreed to a yearly licensing charge for distributing the data online.

So far, OCBC Securities, DMG Securities, DBS Vickers, Phillip Securities and Fraser Securities have paid this distribution fee and will carry STI values on their websites.

In a joint statement issued by all four parties yesterday, SAS chief executive Lim Eng Hai said: 'We are pleased that discussions with the index partners have come to a workable conclusion that allows for the real-time indexes to be displayed on our member firms' trading terminals.

'This will help enhance the STI's continuing relevance as a leading market barometer.'

Responding to queries, Straits Times Money Editor Ignatius Low said: 'We're glad that Singapore's brokerages are restoring real-time access to the STI, a service which has always been essential to the retail investors that they serve.'

Remisiers welcomed the move.

Society of Remisiers (Singapore) president Albert Fong said: 'Without the live STI values, it doesn't make a complete system for us. Things like this should have been solved long ago, but it's never too late.'

During the boycott, remisiers said they were overwhelmed by calls from clients who wanted quicker access to real-time information. Said an OCBC Securities remisier: 'Often, we find ourselves running back and forth to a shared Reuters terminal, which has live data, just to check (the values) for them.'

Others have managed with live data on website ShareInvestor, the Singapore Society of Remisiers and the SGX.

'But it gets very slow when traffic is heavy,' said one user.

Some remisiers have resorted to more creative means of tracking the market's mood, even relying on Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index as a point of reference.

'We have been buying and selling based on the Hang Seng Index, which we have access to in real-time. So, when the Hang Seng falls, we sell here. When it climbs, we buy,' said one remisier. 'It will definitely be more convenient now.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times on May 30, 2008.