George
28-11-2005, 07:35 AM
What are the thoughts on today's change on the ASX?
quote "As trading screens across the country spark into life, poised to start trading at 10 this morning, there will be one notable
difference. Brokers will no longer be able to see which firms are placing orders or making trades. The broker identifier code
will be replaced with a generic identifier, "777-7".
"This is the biggest change in the market since we went electronic," says Goldman Sachs JBWere's head of institutional sales,
Patrick Crabb. "Exactly how the market behaves will be very interesting."
This simple technical change has divided the industry in fierce debate for the past two years. And there are those who argue the
Australian Stock Exchange needs to go even further to overhaul the system.
Over the past two weeks brokers have devoted time and resources meeting clients to discuss how they expect this single
masked field will affect the way they do business. But no one really knows what is going to happen when the market opens this
morning.
Supporters say it will bring greater liquidity to the market and put all investors on a level playing field. Detractors argue it will
unnecessarily reduce the amount of information available, remove transparency and increase market volatility.
Either way, it will change the way many Australian investors make their decisions.
Retail brokers have made the loudest criticisms.
"Having less disclosure, rather than more disclosure, [is] contrary to the thrust of where the market should be going," says Chris
Burrell, of retail broker Burrell and Associates. "This is an industry that has been subject to enormous regulation. One of the
things that keeps this industry very honest is that everyone sees what everyone else is doing."
As of today, brokers will need to purchase reports from the ASX to determine who has been making the trades. One report
will be available soon after the market's close and will reveal the total market share of each broker for the day. A second
report, available three days after each trading day, will disclose the aggregate number of transactions in each stock by each
broker.
quote "As trading screens across the country spark into life, poised to start trading at 10 this morning, there will be one notable
difference. Brokers will no longer be able to see which firms are placing orders or making trades. The broker identifier code
will be replaced with a generic identifier, "777-7".
"This is the biggest change in the market since we went electronic," says Goldman Sachs JBWere's head of institutional sales,
Patrick Crabb. "Exactly how the market behaves will be very interesting."
This simple technical change has divided the industry in fierce debate for the past two years. And there are those who argue the
Australian Stock Exchange needs to go even further to overhaul the system.
Over the past two weeks brokers have devoted time and resources meeting clients to discuss how they expect this single
masked field will affect the way they do business. But no one really knows what is going to happen when the market opens this
morning.
Supporters say it will bring greater liquidity to the market and put all investors on a level playing field. Detractors argue it will
unnecessarily reduce the amount of information available, remove transparency and increase market volatility.
Either way, it will change the way many Australian investors make their decisions.
Retail brokers have made the loudest criticisms.
"Having less disclosure, rather than more disclosure, [is] contrary to the thrust of where the market should be going," says Chris
Burrell, of retail broker Burrell and Associates. "This is an industry that has been subject to enormous regulation. One of the
things that keeps this industry very honest is that everyone sees what everyone else is doing."
As of today, brokers will need to purchase reports from the ASX to determine who has been making the trades. One report
will be available soon after the market's close and will reveal the total market share of each broker for the day. A second
report, available three days after each trading day, will disclose the aggregate number of transactions in each stock by each
broker.