THE Singapore Exchange posted an 11.3 per cent rise in first-quarter net profit, lifted by the pick-up in share trading.

Net profit for the three months ended Sept 30 rose to $94.1 million, from $84.5 million a year earlier.

This was largely in line with the average forecast of $95 million from four analysts in a Reuters poll.

The result translates to earnings per share of 8.85 cents, up 0.9 cents from 7.95 cents a year back.

Operating revenue edged up 9.5 per cent to $173.4 million, from $158.2 million a year back.

Securities market revenue jumped 40.6 per cent to $104.6 million from $74.4 million, boosted by strong trading value.

Average trading value in the quarter was up 37 per cent to $1.73 billion a day, from $1.27 billion a day a year earlier. But this was a mere 3 per cent increase from daily average trading value of $1.68 billion in the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal year.

Revenue from net derivatives clearing fell 27 per cent to $33.7 million from $46.1 million.

Clearing revenue from futures and options dropped 26.4 per cent to $31.9 million from $43.3 million, while clearing revenue from structured warrants dropped 35.5 per cent to $1.8 million from $2.8 million a year ago.

Trading volume for Asian equity derivatives fell 21.8 per cent to 13.2 million contracts, from 17 million contracts in previous corresponding period.

The biggest drop in volume was in the trading of CNX Nifty Index futures. This fell 57.9 per cent to 1.7 million contracts from 4.1 million contracts previously.

SGX said that this was on the back of 'extraordinary volumes' in Q1 last year, when changes in the onshore market led to the migration of large over-the-counter block volumes in a one-off period.

Reflecting a recovery in the initial public offer market, nine IPOs were registered in Q1, compared with 10 in the same period a year ago. This comparison excludes two reverse takeovers (RTOs) in Q1 and one RTO in the same period a year ago.

But the funds raised from IPOs shrank about 7 per cent to $260 million, from $280 million a year back.

In the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal year, SGX saw just one IPO that raised $4 million.

Against the recent trend of delistings, the number of listed companies in Q1 was 757 companies, down by eight.

Outgoing SGX chief executive Hsieh Fu Hua told reporters this week that more IPOs from Asian countries, such as from Vietnam, could be coming to Singapore soon.

SGX has declared an interim base dividend of 3.75 cents per share.

The stock gained six cents to end at $8.65 yesterday.