Exchange tie-ups put focus on Asia

A wave of stock exchange consolidation globally has thrown the spotlight on Asia's bourses.

It sparked a rally in shares of Australia's ASX , which is trying to convince politicians to support a $7.9 billion takeover bid from Singapore Exchange .

Deutsche Boerse's advanced talks to buy NYSE Euronext to create the world's biggest trading powerhouse was a wake-up call for Asian bourses which face increasing competition in equity trading from new platforms.

The deal came just hours after the London Stock Exchange announced a bid for Canada's TMX .

The latest consolidation mounts pressure on Southeast Asian exchanges, which have avoided mergers because of tight ownerships and political obstacles, although these bourses are taking steps to promote cross-border trading .

"The competitive threat from the alternative trading pools makes strategic sense for traditional exchanges to combine resources so they can compete better," said Neo Chiu Yen, vice president of equity research at ABN AMRO Private Bank in Asia.

SGX's $7.9 billion bid for the ASX faces major political and regulatory hurdles in Australia but investors said the latest deals appeared to strengthen the case for a tie-up.

Shares in both companies outperformed their wider markets on Thursday. ASX shares were trading 4.5 percent higher, while SGX shares were up 1.3 percent in Singapore.

"That whole game's moving very fast now. Maybe it gives the ASX-Singapore Exchange a bit of a kick along," said John Sevior, head of equities at Perpetual Investments, ASX's biggest shareholder.

"It just depends on how broad the government's horizons are. At the moment, it's mired very much in domestic political issues."

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