The Australian Securities Exchange (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 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.
