Monitoring and enforcement outcomes

The thoroughness of ASX’s market supervision is critical in maintaining fair, orderly and transparent markets.  To facilitate an informed market, ASX processed approximately 118,000 company announcements in 2006/07.  This represented an average of 61 announcements per company of which approximately 25% were "price-sensitive".  The increase in the number of company announcements over time can be seen below:

Company announcements per company

Average number of company announcements per company - 2006-2007

2006/2007 2005/2006 2004/2005
Total announcements ('000) 117.9 103.4 92.2
Announcements per company - average 61 56 56
Percentage sensitive announcements 25% 23% 22%

*The figures are based on total listed entities excluding multiple listings for stapled securities and
wholesale debt listings (as materiality thresholds for disclosure are substantially different to equity listings).

Continuous disclosure queries 2006/07

Outcomes of disclosure queries - 2006-2007

The number of queries made of Listed Entities and their outcomes are regularly monitored.  A total of 1580 queries were raised with Listed Entities during the Reporting Period and a total of 975 announcements were made following a query, 48 of which were after a trading halt.  There were also four suspensions during the Reporting period as a result of Listing Rule 3.1 monitoring activity.

In line with higher levels of activity, the Issuers unit referred 18 potential breaches of continuous disclosure to ASIC during the Reporting Period, an 80 % increase compared to the ten referrals in 2005/06.  This significant increase has prompted plans within Issuers to develop strategies to promote improvement in companies’ approach to compliance.  This includes revising Guidance Note 8 on Continuous Disclosure to provide greater clarity on continuous disclosure obligations under the Listing Rules in a further attempt to improve compliance with disclosure requirements.