Current Time in Singapore
Singapore — Asia/Singapore
About Time in Singapore
Singapore operates on Singapore Standard Time (IANA: Asia/Singapore) at UTC+8 year-round. Singapore does not observe daylight saving time. Despite being located at longitude 103.8 E — which geographically corresponds to roughly UTC+7 — Singapore uses UTC+8 to align with its major trading partners in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Singapore is 13 hours ahead of New York during EST and 12 hours ahead during EDT. It is 8 hours ahead of London during GMT, 7 hours ahead during BST, and 1 hour behind Tokyo year-round. Singapore's UTC+8 timezone makes it a critical bridge between Asian, European, and American markets — the Singapore Exchange (SGX) opens at 9:00 AM SGT when London traders are still having breakfast and New York is fast asleep.
Singapore's choice of UTC+8 over its natural UTC+7 means that solar noon occurs at about 1:05 PM SGT — the sun is effectively 'late' by an hour. Combined with Singapore's position just 1.3 degrees north of the equator, this means the city has remarkably consistent daylight: approximately 12 hours year-round, with sunrise between 6:55 AM and 7:15 AM SGT and sunset between 7:00 PM and 7:20 PM SGT. There is almost no seasonal variation.
Time Facts
Singapore switched from UTC+7:30 (a legacy of British Malaya's time zone) to UTC+8 in 1982 to align with Hong Kong and Beijing — a decision driven by economic pragmatism over geographic accuracy.
Being almost exactly on the equator, Singapore has virtually the same sunrise and sunset time every day of the year — daylight varies by less than 20 minutes between the longest and shortest days.
Singapore's Changi Airport operates 24 hours a day on SGT, handling over 65 million passengers annually as a global hub. Red-eye flights from Singapore arrive in London and New York at convenient morning times due to the UTC+8 offset.
The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has a 'T+2' settlement cycle synchronized to SGT, and its MSCI futures (tracking Asian markets) are among the first major financial instruments to trade each global business day.
Business Hours
Standard business hours in Singapore are 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM SGT (01:00-10:00 UTC).