ASX’s Listings Value Climbs in March as Raised Capital Dries Up

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 disclosed its monthly activity report for March 2016, which was characterized by mixed results, most notably including a decrease in raised capital, according to an ASX statement.

For the month ending March 2016, the value of ASX-listed stocks, as measured by the global All Ordinaries Index, managed to rise by 4.1% MoM – the performance, while positive, underperformed compared to many other regional exchanges and market blocs, especially when weighed against Germany (5.0%), Japan (4.6%), Singapore (6.5%), and the United States (6.6%) – the one exception was the UK, which only saw gains of 1.3% during March, performing worse than the ASX.

In tandem with this rising value in listings, the ASX did see a retreat in 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 during March 2016, with its latest measure, as calculated by the All Ordinaries Index, falling to 0.7% for the month, down from 1.0% in February 2016. Despite the decline, this does remain well above long-term averages.

Metrics Rundown

Moving to market specifics, the ASX also raised only $2.4 billion in total capital during March 2016, significantly less than its YoY figure of $5.6 billion back in March 2015, or -57.1% YoY. Across its initial capital raise, the exchange also managed to raise $503 million during the month of March 2016, down -19.4% YoY from $624 million in March 2015.

By extension, the total value of cash markets for the ASX during March 2016 was $104.5 billion, down -4.9% YoY from $109.9 billion in March 2015 – however, despite this negative result, the ASX did see an uptick in its average daily value on-market, registering a figure of $4.4 billion in March 2016, up 4.8% YoY from $4.2 billion in March 2015.

The ASX also reported its futures trading statistics during March 2016, yielding a total of 15.0 million futures contracts traded during the month, rising 6.3% YoY from 14.1 million contracts in March 2015. Average daily contracts were also trending higher at 723,137 in March 2016, vs. just 650,706 contracts in March 2015, or 11.1% YoY.

Finally, the notional value of over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate derivative contracts centrally cleared during March 2016 was $226.7 billion, storming higher from $136.0 billion back in March 2015 – this was reflective of a rise of 66.7% YoY.