Asean inches closer to integrated market

Bourse officials from seven members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are expected to finalize in early December plans to offer regional shares belonging to a “highly investable asset class.”

The move is expected to boost efforts to link up the stock markets across the region and pave the way for an integrated Asean economy.

Executives of the Asean stock markets, which include the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), said in a statement that a collaboration framework was on track to collectively promote Asean stocks as a package.

PSE president chief executive Hans Sicat said that the marketing of the Asean Stars and the work on an Asean index series is continuing as planned.

Sicat was referring to a selection of the 30 “most exciting” stocks from each exchange—totaling 210 stocks—ranked in terms of market capitalization and liquidity.

According to the Asean Exchanges, some of the companies are the largest and most dynamic in the world. These companies are considered leaders in finance and banking, telecommunications, commodities, automotive manufacturing and other sectors.

“The 2012 marketing activities … will be finalized at our scheduled CEOs’ meeting on Decembefr 2 in Hanoi,” Sicat said.

The Asean Exchanges collectively make up a market worth around $2 trillion.

The other markets are the Indonesia Stock Exchange, Bursa Malaysia, Stock Exchange of Thailand, Singapore Exchange, and Vietnam’s Hochiminh Stock Exchange and Hanoi Stock Exchange.

Collectively, the seven exchanges represent 3,613 listed companies with an aggregate capitalization of $1.98 trillion as of March 31.

The Asean Exchange has also announced the rollout in 2012 of its Asean Trading Link—an intra-Asean connectivity trading platform. It will link the stock markets of Singapore and Malaysia, while that of Thailand will join later this year.

Interconnection with the other four exchanges, including PSE, “will be announced at a future date.”

In a disclosure, the Philippine Stock Exchange said it would temporarily postpone its original plan to be included in the Asean Trading Link as it “undertakes efforts to generate further interest and support for the project from local brokers and the investing public.”