Liquidnet, the institutional equities marketplace that enables secure and anonymous block trading of equities, announced today that it has once again expanded its trading operations to now include listed securities in Indonesia.
The trading of Indonesian equities on the Liquidnet platform will commence on January 25, 2011.Liquidnet now offers institutional investors trading access to 39 equity markets (plus London and Luxembourg GDRs) around the world.
Lee Porter, Head of Asia Pacific for Liquidnet, said, "Money managers across the globe are increasingly looking to access high growth emerging markets, such as Indonesia, and Liquidnet is providing opportunities to capture alpha in these markets by bringing Indonesian equities onto our platform. This addition is the latest example of new ways we are bringing global block liquidity to our Members so that they can trade efficiently and anonymously in a safe environment."
Indonesia is a high growth market in which the benchmark Jakarta Composite Index gained more than 45 percent in 2010, making it the best performer among Asia's 10 biggest markets When comparing the performance of Asia's 10 largest markets to the Jakarta Composite Index.. The Index is made up of 421 publically traded companies with commodity stocks and financials among the most heavily weighted constituents. According to a central bank forecast in September, Southeast Asia's biggest economy may grow as much as 6.4 percent in 2011 from an estimated 6 percent in 2010, propelled by strong exports and domestic consumption.
John Barker, Head of International for Liquidnet added, "Indonesia offers investors a sizeable equity market, backed by a stable economy and strong growth prospects. The addition of Indonesian trading onto our platform is another step Liquidnet is taking to ensure our Members can source large-order liquidity in their investment destination of choice."
The launch in Indonesia is the second market in Southeast Asia added by Liquidnet in recent months. Trading in Malaysian equities commenced in November 2010, and has already seen an average execution size on Liquidnet of US$1.5 million. By comparison, the local stock exchange, Bursa Malaysia, recorded an average trade size of around US$5,800 during the months of October and November 2010(according to the World Federation of Exchanges). Average daily liquidity for Malaysian equities in Liquidnet's pool was US$361 million during December 2010.
The Indonesian launch comes after another record year for Liquidnet's Asia Pacific operations. Principal traded in 2010 smashed through the previous year's record, rising 37 percent year-on-year to US$14 billion.