Australian bourse ASX Ltd said it was ready to take on competition and new rules announced by the securities market regulator to end ASX's two-decade monopoly in the country reinforced the rationale for its planned acquisition by Singapore Exchange . Australia's securities regulator set a timetable on Thursday to clear the way for competition among stock exchange operators, which will allow Chi-X, owned by Nomura , to begin operations by October/November this year. ASX has agreed to be acquired by SGX for $7.7 billion in the first of the exchange mergers around the world, including Deutsche Boerse's bid for NYSE Euronext and London Stock Exchange's bid for Toronto Stock Exchange parent TMX Group Inc . The ASX-SGX deal is still awaiting Australian clearance. (Reporting by Narayanan Somasundaram; Editing by Ed Davies)
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