The owner of the Australian Securities Exchange, ASX Limited
(ASX:ASX), will lose its monopoly in Australia today when rival trading platform Chi-X opens for trading.
Chi-X Australia is a subsidiary of Chi-X Global Inc owned by a subsidiary of Japanese investment bank Nomura Holdings.
The soft launch period will see trading in eight securities this week including BHP Billiton Limited
(ASX:BHP), Leighton Holdings Limited
(ASX:LEI), Origin Energy Limited
(ASX:ORG), QBE Insurance Group Limited
(ASX:QBE) and Woolworths Limited
(ASX:WOW).
Reports emerged last month that Chi-X plans to undercut ASX's standard trading fee by about 40 per cent.
The launch comes less than one week after ASX was hit with a technical glitch that froze four hours of trade.
In the 2011 financial year ASX posted a net profit of $352 million.
