SGX Q3 profit at 10-yr high, focus on new India equity derivatives in June

Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX) reported its highest profit in a decade on Friday as a strong performance in derivatives and securities powered a 21 percent rise in net profit for the quarter to March 31.

Third-quarter profit of S$100.5 million ($76.5 million) on revenue up 10 percent to a record S$222.2 million.

"Our marketing efforts, together with longer trading hours enabled by our new derivatives trading and clearing platform, added to an increase in global participation across products and trading sessions," CEO Loh Boon Chye said.

"With improved global growth, more central banks are likely to adopt tightening measures. This could lead to investors rebalancing their portfolios," Loh told analysts and reporters. "As a result, we expect market activity to improve."

New India products

Market focus is also on how SGX can cope with an unexpected move by India's three main bourses to stop licensing their indexes and securities to foreign bourses from August. Worried by the potential decline in business, analysts have cut SGX's earnings estimates for the next few years.