The Australian Securities Exchange Group (ASX) has just released key trading statistics showing that derivatives trading on the exchange has risen by about 9% in August, although share trading dealings were still down compared to a year ago. This backed industry findings by research specialist Investment Trends which published a study in August showing that more investors in Australia are using the leveraged products to try enhancing investment returns.
ASX, which operates the only exchange listed CFD market in Australia is likely to lose its monopoly on stock trading later this year. The Australian Securities Exchange reported a 9% rise in the total value of all CFD trades to $371.6 million in August, during which 16.3 million contracts were traded. The number of CFD traders in Australia was up 22% to 39,000 over the year to June, but this still constituted a minority of the online trading market making up some 650,000 participants. More generally, the ASX stated that shares derivatives trading volumes were up 11% on the August 2009 level to two million contracts. Trading volumes of agricultural derivatives rose sharply 84% to a monthly record of 58,631 contracts while energy derivatives leapt 141% to 51,189 contracts on the previous August 2009 level.
However, trading equity volumes in August were down when compared to the same month last year, with the All Ordinaries index falling 1.5%, bringing the index’s cumulative drop since January to 9.1 per cent. The Australian Securities Exchange further noted that the average number of daily trades in August declined 5% to 509,113 while the average daily value of all shares traded slid 2% to $5.7 billion. The total value across the cash market in August totalled $126 billion, which is up 3% on the previous corresponding month. There were 5 new company listings and 19 de-listings.
