SGX lines up market participants to promote liquidity

SGX eyes creating pool of liquidity providers committed to trade Prudential shares in May 25 listing.

Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Friday said it has secured dedicated market makers for the trading of Prudential PLC (Prudential) shares at their 25 May 2010 listing on SGX, according to an SGX report.

The market makers will provide two-way bid/offer quotes to enhance liquidity. SGX expects to have a pool of liquidity providers committed to trade the shares. Prudential shares will also be added to the Central Depository share borrowing facility. Research on Prudential will be made available in Singapore.

In addition, Macquarie Bank will list a call warrant on Prudential shares listed on SGX. The call warrant has an exercise price of US$8.00, and will start trading at around the same time as the underlying shares.

The counter will trade under the name “Pru 500 US$” and the abbreviated name “Pru500.” It will trade in board lot size of 500 shares and be quoted in US dollars. On its listing day, investors may enter and manage trade orders from 9:30 am and trade matching will start at 10:00 am. Thereafter, Prudential shares will trade during SGX's regular trading hours.

Mr. Lawrence Wong, Executive Vice President and Head of Listings at SGX said, "SGX has received strong support from our market participants for this listing. These collaborative efforts will promote an active trading environment for Prudential shares."