Singapore Exchange, the operator of the city’s securities market, said fiscal second- quarter profit rose 3.3% on increased stock trading.

Net income climbed to $74.2 million in the three months ended December from $71.8 million a year earlier, the company said in a statement today. Excluding $7.5 million of costs for the pending takeover of ASX, Australia’s main bourse, profit increased to $81.7 million. Analysts had expected US$85 million ($109.5 million), based on the median of five estimates compiled by Bloomberg News.

 

The second quarter was “lifted by increased securities and derivatives volumes,” Chief Executive Officer Magnus Bocker said in the statement. “This quarter also saw larger IPOs, expanded membership base and new product launches.”

 

Bocker, who took over at the Singapore bourse in December 2009, offered in October to buy ASX for A$8.4 billion ($10.7 billion) to help the Singapore company compete against rivals after Hong Kong attracted Asia’s biggest initial public offerings last year. Hutchison Whampoa, controlled by billionaire Li Ka-shing, said it plans to list Hong Kong and Southern Chinese ports in a Singapore trust.

 

The Singapore bourse said the Australian anti-monopoly regulator had no objection to the bid, and it’s working with other authorities, including the Foreign Investment Review Board, with the aim of completing the transaction this year.

 

“If the deal is going to happen, it will happen in 2011,” Bill Shorten, Australia’s Assistant Treasurer, said on Bloomberg Television today. “If the deal is to be done, regulators won’t sit on this unduly.”