The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) published its monthly activity report for August 2018, on Wednesday. Overall the Exchange saw an uptick in the number of contracts traded and daily average values, this is despite Volatility being lower than in July of 2018.
During August of 2018, ASX admitted nine new listings, five more than August last year. At the same time, however, 17 entities delisted from the exchange in August compared to nine in the same month last year. This brought the total listed entities to 2,288.
Looking at ASX’s cash markets, which includes equities, interest rate and warrant trades, the average daily number of trades was 18 per cent higher year-on-year. The daily average value traded on-market was AU$4.7 billion (3.4 billion), 12 per cent more than August 2017.
Volatility dips in August
Volatility, on the other hand, was 0.3 per cent in August. This is less than the previous month which experienced volatility of 0.5 per cent. Expected future volatility in August was an average of 11.6 per cent, this is also down when compared to July this year.
In August of 2018, the total futures contracts traded by members of ASX was 10,471,168. This is up 15 per cent year-on-year. The average daily futures and options on futures volumes were up by 19 per cent compared to the same period last year. Average daily futures volumes also saw an uptick of 18 per cent.
Taking a look at the over-the-counter (OTC) Markets, the notional value of OTC interest rate derivative contracts that were centrally cleared was AU$404 billion. This is less than August 2017 which centrally cleared AU$474 billion worth of contracts.
In August, equity options weren’t as popular for members of ASX. During the month, single stock options average daily contracts traded was down by 18 per cent. The number of traded index options average daily contracts was barely up year-on-year, increasing by 1 per cent.
