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MELBOURNE - Shares in the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) shot up late yesterday on speculation the New York Stock Exchange was weighing it up as a takeover target.
The stock soared almost 4.5 per cent to A$37.45 on rumours that the NYSE was buying shares in the ASX.
Exchange operators were active last year, with a battle for the London Stock Exchange still unresolved.
The NYSE and US investment bank Goldman Sachs yesterday took a stake in the Indian Stock Exchange.
Macquarie Equities private client adviser David Halliday said the ASX was a relatively open register with a lot of benefits still to come from integration with the Sydney Futures Exchange.
"The time zone we sit in, which is almost directly between continental Europe and continental US, would make a lot of sense to someone who is doing global consolidation of exchange assets," he said.
