AGL 38.60 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (1.18%)
AIRLINK 128.51 Increased By ▲ 3.44 (2.75%)
BOP 7.08 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (3.36%)
CNERGY 4.54 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (2.02%)
DCL 8.20 Increased By ▲ 0.29 (3.67%)
DFML 38.20 Increased By ▲ 0.86 (2.3%)
DGKC 79.81 Increased By ▲ 2.04 (2.62%)
FCCL 32.20 Increased By ▲ 1.62 (5.3%)
FFBL 73.00 Increased By ▲ 4.14 (6.01%)
FFL 12.16 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (2.53%)
HUBC 109.55 Increased By ▲ 5.05 (4.83%)
HUMNL 13.85 Increased By ▲ 0.36 (2.67%)
KEL 4.89 Increased By ▲ 0.24 (5.16%)
KOSM 7.50 Increased By ▲ 0.33 (4.6%)
MLCF 37.33 Increased By ▲ 0.89 (2.44%)
NBP 69.51 Increased By ▲ 3.59 (5.45%)
OGDC 187.01 Increased By ▲ 7.48 (4.17%)
PAEL 24.95 Increased By ▲ 0.52 (2.13%)
PIBTL 7.30 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (2.1%)
PPL 150.30 Increased By ▲ 6.60 (4.59%)
PRL 24.90 Increased By ▲ 0.58 (2.38%)
PTC 17.05 Increased By ▲ 0.65 (3.96%)
SEARL 80.67 Increased By ▲ 2.10 (2.67%)
TELE 7.50 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (3.88%)
TOMCL 32.90 Increased By ▲ 0.93 (2.91%)
TPLP 8.45 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (3.94%)
TREET 16.58 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (2.79%)
TRG 56.30 Increased By ▲ 1.64 (3%)
UNITY 27.90 Increased By ▲ 0.40 (1.45%)
WTL 1.34 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (3.88%)
BR100 10,461 Increased By 371.9 (3.69%)
BR30 30,782 Increased By 1273.5 (4.32%)
KSE100 97,494 Increased By 2919.9 (3.09%)
KSE30 30,391 Increased By 946.4 (3.21%)

The Hong Kong stock exchange agreed to pay 1.4 billion pounds ($2.18 billion) to buy the 135-year-old London Metal Exchange, the world's biggest marketplace for industrial metals, underlining the shift in manufacturing's centre of gravity to Asia.
The deal on Friday - still subject to approval by LME shareholders, who may well reject it - would give Asia's largest bourse a much-needed entry into a commodity trading platform and brings LME members closer to China, the world's biggest metals buyer.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEx) will finance the acquisition of the exchange, where total traded value was $15.4 trillion last year, through its existing funds and with a 1.1 billion pound bank loan, it said in a statement.
"This is a transformational milestone for Hong Kong," HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li told a presentation for analysts.
HKEx beat US commodities exchange InterContinental Exchange in the final nail-biting stages of a contest that started last September with around 15 expressions of interest.
At the LME, men in suits and a few women still use arcane hand signals to conduct open outcry trade in copper, aluminium, lead, nickel, tin and zinc around a circular floor in a bland-fronted building on Leadenhall Street, near the Bank of England.
These traditions are prized as an accurate price discovery mechanism although business is also conducted electronically and over the telephone.
The board of the LME was unanimous in its decision to endorse the Hong Kong bid, which will be put to a LME shareholder vote that is likely before the end of July.
For the LME, HKEx offers a fast track into China and will strengthen its position in the major market against the Shanghai Futures Exchange, which trades in base metals.

Copyright Reuters, 2012

Comments

Comments are closed.