The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) reported a strong performance for the first half of the financial year, with higher new listings and total quoted capital. The momentum has continued into the second half, prompting a 5% rise in ASX shares at the close of trading.
For the six months ending December 31, ASX recorded a record operating revenue, reflecting strong demand for derivatives market data, higher listing fees, and increased trading volumes in the cash market. During trading, ASX shares surged by as much as 9.2%, marking the largest intraday increase in nearly five years.
The exchange operator posted a 10.1% increase in underlying net profit to A$253.7 million ($159.7 million), surpassing consensus estimates by 2.8%. ASX also declared an interim dividend of A$1.112 per share.
ASX attributed the growth in trading activity to shifting expectations regarding global interest rates, coupled with significant geopolitical events, which heightened market volatility. Initial public offerings (IPOs) also saw a surge in Australia, with net proceeds reaching A$2.01 billion in 2024, the highest level since 2021, according to LSEG data.
Despite these positive results, ASX has faced challenges, particularly surrounding regulatory scrutiny due to delays in replacing its CHESS clearing and settlement system. This issue came to the forefront following an outage in December. However, ASX has announced plans to begin testing the first industry environment for the new CHESS clearing services later this month.
Costs related to the troubled CHESS replacement have been a point of concern for investors. ASX reported total expenses of A$220.3 million for the first half, which remained flat compared to the previous year. The company reaffirmed its guidance for expense growth of between 6% and 9% for the current financial year.
Roy Van Keulen, an analyst at Morningstar, commented on the stabilization in ASX’s cost growth, noting that the first signs of improvement have emerged following the issues tied to the CHESS replacement project.
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