ASX Rebounds With Strong Capital Gains in December 2015, Futures Improve Performance

The Australian Securities Exchange Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectiv Read this Term (ASX) has reported its monthly activity report for December 2015, which saw a paring of last month’s losses and a general ascension in capital across a number of key benchmarks and indices, according to an ASX statement.

For the month ending December 2015, the value of ASX-listed stocks, as measured by the global All Ordinaries Index, secured a healthy 2.4% advance – this performance also outperformed many other leading market blocs, notably when weighed against Germany (-5.6%), Japan (-3.6%) and the United States (-1.8%) – the only other major market of note with a positive performance in December 2015 was Singapore (0.9%).

In addition to this rise in capital, the ASX saw unchanged bouts of Volatility Volatility In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, or stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Trad In finance, volatility refers to the amount of change in the rate of a financial instrument, such as commodities, currencies, or stocks, over a given time period. Essentially, volatility describes the nature of an instrument’s fluctuation; a highly volatile security equates to large fluctuations in price, and a low volatile security equates to timid fluctuations in price. Volatility is an important statistical indicator used by financial traders to assist them in developing trading systems. Trad Read this Term in December, with its volatility, as calculated by the All Ordinaries Index, holding steady at 0.8% in December 2015, unchanged MoM from November 2015.

Key Specifics

In terms of market specifics, the ASX also raised a total of $8.7 billion in total capital during December 2015, relative to just $7.9 billion back in November 2015, or 10.1% MoM. Across its initial capital raise, the exchange managed to raise $2,565 million during the month of December 2015, up 16.2% YoY from $2,208 million in December 2014.

The total value of cash markets for the ASX during December 2015 was $90.7 billion, down -8.2% MoM from $98.8 billion in November 2015 – this result did justify a 5.1% increase YoY from $86.3 billion in December 2014.

For the second consecutive month the ASX also bested its 2014 counterpart in the area of future contracts. Indeed, the ASX witnessed a total of 11.9 million futures contracts traded during December 2015, up 26.6% MoM from 9.4 million contracts in November 2015. Across a yearly timeframe the most recent figures orchestrated a more tepid rise, or less than 1% YoY from 11.8 million contracts in December 2014.

Finally, the notional value of over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate derivative contracts centrally cleared during December 2015 was $104.0 billion, plunging -44.5% MoM from $187.5 billion in November 2015.