May 02, 2012
Aussie turnover takes Easter/Anzac holiday dip
Equity trading volumes in Australia sank last month as the
four-day Easter weekend and national Anzac day holiday break impacted the
number of trading days in the month.
But the fall was significantly sharper than recent years,
dropping 27.4% to US$70.5 billion last month from US$97.1 billion in March, compared to
last year’s 22.5% fall to US$90.4 billion from US$116.7 billion and 2010’s
10.8% fall from March to April.
Since January, participants on the Australian Securities
Exchange (ASX) and Chi-X Australia have been subject to fees for ‘market supervision
and competition cost recovery’ levied by Australian regulator, the Australian
Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).
The new fees are estimated to amount to A$19 million
annually and were developed by the Treasury and ASIC to cover the costs of new
regulatory functions following the transfer of market supervision from the ASX to the regulator on 1 August
2010 and the introduction of market competition in equity securities, as well
as the development of a framework to support market competition, according to
ASIC.
Launched in October, since a February low of 0.58%, new
venue Chi-X Australia has been increasing market share steadily, up to 1.79% in
April from 1.02% in March.
PTSs ease TSE stranglehold
In Japan, proprietary trading systems continued to chip away
at the supremacy of the primary bourse, with SBI Japannext and Chi-X Japan’s
combined market share increasing to 4.99% from 4.65% in March. The Tokyo Stock
Exchange’s hold on the market edged down 0.18 percentage points to 90.82% from 91.1%.
As seasonally expected, volumes across the region dropped
last month. Hong Kong equity markets saw a 36.6% plunge to US$25.1 billion from
US$39.6 billion, while Singapore dipped 12.7% to US$14.2 billion from US$16
billion in March.
Only one market in the region bucked the downward trend. Indonesia
turnover rose in April to US$8.9 billion from US$7.7 billion the previous
month.
Bruce Love
+44 (0)20 7397 3818
bruce.love@thetrade.ltd.uk