The ASEAN Trading Link, which will connect exchanges throughout Southeast Asia, went live on September 8 with a link-up between the Singapore Exchange and Bursa Malaysia.

The trading platform is an initiative by the ASEAN Exchanges, a collaboration of seven ASEAN stock exchanges, to boost regional capital markets and offer more investment opportunities for investors.

Under the ASEAN Trading Link, investors in one market will be able to directly access markets in another through their brokers. Analysts believe the new platform will help them save costs since they will not need to pay additional fees charged by brokers on both sides.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand is expected to link-up from next month.

Vietnam’s two exchanges will participate at a later date together with stock exchanges in the Philippines and Indonesia.

To date, 31 brokers from across Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand have joined ASEAN Trade Link.

The Southeast Asia Exchanges group hopes the new trading system will encourage more inflows of funds, helping them compete with the fast growing markets of Hong Kong, China and India.-VNA