Liquidnet, an institutional investment community that enables secure and anonymous block trading of equities, is planning to commence trading of New Zealand equities on June 22, 2010, to facilitate its asset manager members who find the local market restrictive particularly for trading large volumes of stocks.
Liquidnet’s expansion to New Zealand follows the group’s successful establishment in Australia.
Since its Australian launch in February 2008, Liquidnet Australia is set to have been grown a liquidity pool of AUD1.7bn, representing the average daily liquidity of the 180 members enabled to trade Australian-listed securities.
Sam Macqueen, co-head of Liquidnet Australia, said: “Our members face significant market impact costs when trading NZX-listed stocks because wholesale-sized trades in a small market can cause dramatic price changes.”
Stephen Zilioli, co-head of Liquidnet Australia, said Liquidnet instantly alerts members to potential trade matches via Liquidnet’s electronic trading platform, empowering them with control over the execution process and reducing their reliance on external brokers.
“For the New Zealand market, where lack of actionable liquidity is a problem for institutional investors, we believe Liquidnet will increase trading in securities listed on the New Zealand Exchange, helping it to retain and grow overall market liquidity,” Mr Stephen added.