Time in Singapore

By longitude Singapore belongs closer to UTC+7, and for decades it used UTC+7:30. On January 1, 1982, Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia both moved their clocks forward half an hour to UTC+8, so that the whole of Malaysia, including Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo, shared one time and Singapore stayed in step with Kuala Lumpur. The change also lined the city up with Hong Kong, Taipei, Manila and Perth.

The trade-off is a late sun. Solar noon falls around 1:00 PM, so mornings stay dark until about 7:00 AM and evenings remain light until past 7:00 PM. Before 1982 the island had already shifted its clock several times, including the Japanese occupation, when it ran on Tokyo time.

Singapore sits only 1.35° north of the equator, so day length barely changes: about 12 hours 10 minutes in June and 12 hours 5 minutes in December. Sunrise moves between roughly 6:45 AM in early November and 7:15 AM in early February, and sunset between 6:50 and 7:20 PM. Those small shifts come from the equation of time, not from the seasons.

Offices usually work from 9:00 to 18:00, and the Singapore Exchange trades securities from 9:00 to 12:00 and again from 13:00 to 17:00. London is seven hours behind during British Summer Time and eight hours in winter, so a 4:00 PM call in Singapore reaches London at 9:00 or 8:00 AM. New York is 12 hours behind in its summer and 13 hours in winter, which makes 8:00 to 9:00 PM in Singapore against the New York morning the most practical slot. The SGT to EST table lists every hour of the day.