The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) was formed through the 1987 merger of Australia’s 6 former stock exchanges in to the Australian Stock Exchange, and the merger of that exchange with the Sydney Futures Exchange in 2006.
The ASX is one of the 20 leading exchanges worldwide, and lists more than 2000 companies, including a number of companies based in New Zealand. The exchange operates on a T+2 settlement cycle. Liquidity is managed by market makers.
Contracts exchanged on the ASX include shares, bonds, exchange traded products (ETPs), exchange traded funds (ETFs), warrants, managed investment funds and hybrid securities. Derivatives, including options, index futures, interest rate derivatives (options and futures), grains derivatives and energy derivatives.
Indexes which track ASX performance include the S&P/ASX 20 (ATLI), S&P/ASX 50 (AFLI), S&P/ASX 100 (ATOI), S&P/ASX 200 (AXJO), and the All Ordinaries index (AORD).
Trading hours: Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. AEDT (UTC+10/+11)
Settlement cycle: T+2
More on this topic:
Comprehensive comparison of Swiss online brokers
Key tips for successful trading
Common pitfalls of stock trading
Deal of the Day 
