Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing (HKEx) made net profit of HK$504.9m ($64.7m) in the six months to 30 June 2004. The result is up 136% from the same period last year, when Sars and the start of the Iraq War reduced investor activity. The exchange's futures and stock options markets saw average daily volume of 57,600 and 23,300 lots, up 47% and 60% respectively. Average daily turnover in the underlying equity markets jumped 137% to HK$16.8bn.
New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) and Shanghai Futures Exchange announced on Thursday that they have signed a memorandum of understanding, "to explore potential areas of cooperation that could mutually benefit the...