Singapore uses UTC+8, but the island sits at about 103.8° East — the meridian that would normally belong to UTC+7. Clock time therefore runs about an hour ahead of the sun: sunrise is around 7 a.m. and sunset around 7 p.m. all year, and solar noon falls close to 1 p.m.
Singapore has changed its clocks many times. It used local mean time (about UTC+6:55) until 1905, moved to UTC+7 and then UTC+7:20 in the 1930s, and to UTC+7:30 in 1941. During the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945 it ran on Tokyo time (UTC+9), then returned to UTC+7:30. The current UTC+8 started on 1 January 1982, when Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia aligned with East Malaysia.
Sharing UTC+8 with Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, the Philippines and Perth means a single Singapore workday covers most of East and Southeast Asia. SGX securities trade from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a midday break, and Singapore's late afternoon overlaps with the start of the European working day.
Singapore's 11 public holidays follow several calendars — Chinese New Year (lunisolar), Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji (Islamic), Deepavali (Hindu) and Vesak Day (Buddhist) — alongside fixed dates such as National Day on 9 August. Because most of them move each year, check the official holiday list before setting deadlines.
| City | January | July |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 20:00(−16 h, previous day) | 21:00(−15 h, previous day) |
| New York | 23:00(−13 h, previous day) | 00:00(−12 h) |
| São Paulo | 01:00(−11 h) | 01:00(−11 h) |
| London | 04:00(−8 h) | 05:00(−7 h) |
| Paris | 05:00(−7 h) | 06:00(−6 h) |
| Dubai | 08:00(−4 h) | 08:00(−4 h) |
| Mumbai | 09:30(−2 h 30 min) | 09:30(−2 h 30 min) |
| Tokyo | 13:00(+1 h) | 13:00(+1 h) |
| Sydney | 15:00(+3 h) | 14:00(+2 h) |
Singapore uses Singapore Standard Time (SGT), which is UTC+8. It never changes — no daylight saving time is observed.
UTC+8 is shared by Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, parts of Indonesia and Western Australia (Perth).
Singapore is 8 hours ahead of London in winter (GMT) and 7 hours ahead during British Summer Time.
The Singapore Exchange (SGX) securities market opens at 9:00 AM SGT and closes at 5:00 PM, with a midday break.