ASX Group Activities Report - June 2017

By ASX

On 4 July, the Reserve Bank of Australia kept the cash rate on hold at 1.5%.  Recent hawkish statements by the European Central Bank, Bank of England and Bank of Canada have raised expectations that the RBA may also consider raising interest rates sooner.  An aggressive series of rate hikes will be bad news for indebted households as figures reported in the media yesterday showed that average debt has soared to almost twice the annual incomes, and is continuing to rise.  The household debt to income ratio now stands above 190%, the highest since official data dating back to 1988.

The value of ASX-listed stocks, as measured by the All Ordinaries Index, remained flat in June 2017. This was in contrast to most major markets, including Japan up 1.9%, Singapore up 0.5%, the US up 0.5%, and Hong Kong up 0.4%. Germany was down 3.0% and the UK down 2.8%.

Volatility measures for the Australian equity market increased during June:

• Volatility (as measured by the average daily movement in the All Ordinaries Index) was 0.7% in June, up on the previous month (0.4%).
• Expected future volatility (as measured by the S&P/ASX 200 VIX) in June was an average of 12.7 (compared to 12.2 in May).

Overview of Trading Volumes in June 2017

Volume of futures trading by individual contract is available at the following link:

http://www.asx.com.au/prices/daily_monthly_reports.htm

ASX SPI – June figures

• Monthly volume was 1,851,673 (rose by 22.97% compared to May Monthly Volume 1,505,814), gives an average daily volume of 84,167.
• Average Daily Volume (of all expiries) of Night Trading in first quarter of 2017 is around 19% of the total daily volume.

XJO Index Options – June figures

• Average daily volume for June was 45,651.

About ASX SPI

The ASX SPI and ASX MINI SPI are based on the S&P/ASX 200 Index, which comprises the top 200 listed stocks on the Australian share market. The S&P/ASX 200 Index is recognised as the investable benchmark for the Australian equities market, covering approximately 80% of the market capitalisation of listed securities in Australia. ASX SPI 200 Futures are approved for trading by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

• A$25 per index point, or $145,000 notional value when the index is at 5,800 points

• Day and night trading sessions for access almost 24 hours a day.

• Available through international hubs including London, Chicago, Singapore and Hong Kong

• Available on the next six quarterly expiry months

More information at http://www.asx.com.au/products/index-derivatives.htm

About Index Options (XJO Index Options)

Index options give you exposure to a market index, such as the S&P/ASX 200. They offer similar benefits to options traded over shares in individual companies with the added benefit that they offer exposure to the broad range of securities that make up an index.  Referred to as XJO Index Options, it provides wide coverage of the share market. Regarded as a leading benchmark by professional investors for broad movements in the stock market, the S&P/ASX200 Index reflects the prices of the largest 200 stocks currently listed on ASX, and represents almost 80% of the market as a whole.

XJO Options are available monthly (expires the third Thursday of the month) and weekly (expires every Thursday).

• A$10 per index point
• Day session open 9.50am to 5pm and 5.30pm to 7pm (Sydney time)

More information at http://www.asx.com.au/products/equity-options.htm