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Financial markets in Australia - statistics & facts

Financial markets in Australia present something of a paradox. On the one hand, owing to Australia's geographic position as the largest economy in southeast Asia, Sydney joins Singapore as one of the the only two major financial centers in this region of almost 700 million people. As a result, there is a relatively high non-Australian companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). However, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) is only the 17th largest stock market operator worldwide - much lower than one might expect given that: the Australian dollar/U.S. dollar is the fourth most traded currency pair in the world, the country enjoys a very high gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, and that Australia is the 13th largest economy in the world by GDP.

Mining - Australia’s primary industry

A look at the most important sector of the Australian economy – mining – provides some answers to this puzzle. Australia is home to the second largest mining industry in the world, with the two largest mining companies in the world – BHP and Rio Tinto – being both Australian. Australian dollars are therefore often needed to purchase the coal, metals, and minerals exported from Australian mines. However, both BHP and Rio Tinto are dual listed on the London Stock Exchange, meaning much of their value sits on the UK financial market. Regardless of where shareholder wealth flows, the strength of Australian mining led to Australia being one of the only countries not to suffer a recession from the 2008 global financial collapse. This stability led to consistently high levels of foreign direct investment in Australia. Yet close to half of this money was invested in mining or real estate – effectively fixed, physical assets that do not directly contribute to financial markets – while only 11 percent was invested in financial or insurance activities.

Compulsory private pension investment

Another important feature of Australian financial markets is the country’s somewhat unique system of compulsory ‘superannuation’ payments, whereby all employees must invest 10 percent of their salary into retirement savings. As a result, Australia has one of the highest ratios of pension assets to GDP in the world. Much of these funds are handled by Australian banks – one of the reasons they comprise five of the ten largest publicly listed Australian companies. Around half of Australian pension fund assets are invested in equities - a figure higher than in other comparable countries. However, as these funds are handled by professional investors and subject to very few investment restrictions, often these portfolios will contain significant investments in international securities.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Feb 10, 2023

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Largest stock exchange operators worldwide as of October 2022, by market capitalization of listed companies (in trillion U.S. dollars)

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Largest stock exchange operators worldwide 2022, by market cap of listed companies

Monthly domestic market capitalization of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) from January 2010 to December 2022

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Monthly ASX domestic market cap Australia 2010-2022

Leading companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) as of July 2022, by market capitalization (in billion Australian dollars)

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Largest companies listed on ASX Australia 2022

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