ASEAN Stars inked for direct blue chip stocks trade

BANGKOK, 11 April 2011 (NNT) – Finance ministers from six ASEAN countries have signed the ‘ASEAN Stars’ agreement to open direct trade for 210 blue chip equities among members, according to Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij. Talking about the result of the ASEAN Finance Ministers Meeting held in Indonesia, Mr Korn stated that the meeting reached an agreement on capital market development, and the ASEAN Stars project was signed among six ASEAN members to open direct blue chip stocks. ASEAN Stars project will allow investors to directly trade 210 blue chip stocks, which are made up of a selection of 30 stocks from each exchange. This is aimed at elevating the ASEAN stock markets as an integrated stock exchange by 2015. Seven exchanges include Hanoi Stock Exchange, Hochiminh Stock Exchange of Vietnam, Bursa Malaysia, the Indonesia Stock Exchange, the Philippine Stock Exchange Inc, Singapore Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Thailand. The minister expected that another agreement would be signed at the end of this year to open direct trade officially among ASEAN members; for example, Thai investors can trade stocks directly in the Malaysian or Singaporean exchanges.