Market rally no clear win for ASX Market trading numbers for the first seven weeks of the ASX's new financial year confirm that the market rally is not yet supercharging its earnings. Operating revenue fell by 3.3 per cent in the first half compared with a year earlier and then rose by 5.8 per cent in the second half, with cash equities market revenue falling by 18 per cent in the first half and rising by 3.8 per cent in the second half, information services revenue that feeds on market activity falling by 11.7 per cent in the first half and falling by a less steep 3.5 per cent in the second half, and derivatives market revenue falling by 2.3 per cent in the first half, and rising by 11.7 per cent in the second half. ASX chief executive Elmer Funke Kupper said that in the first seven weeks of the financial year to August 16 cash market trading averaged $3.8 billion a day, up 7.7 per cent on the same seven week period last year. An average of 396,682 contracts a day were also traded on the exchange's ASX 24 derivatives market platform in the first seven weeks, 14.9 per cent above the same period last year. As Funke Kupper pointed out, however, the year got off to a very slow start as investors fretted about the possibility of a European sovereign debt meltdown reigniting the global financial crisis. The S&P/ASX 200 index was sitting at 4096 points at the end of June 2012. It was higher at 4330 points seven weeks later, but had not yet begun to rally hard on the back of European Central Bank President Mario Draghi's promise at the end of July to do "whatever it takes" to defeat any bond market attacks in Europe's key financial battlefields, Spain and Italy. As confidence grew that Draghi could back up his promise, the markets surged. The ASX 200 had reached 4705 points by the end of 2012, and hit 5220 points in mid-May. It has fallen and recovered again since but averaged 4995 points in the June half year, and was at about 5057 points on Thursday morning when Funke Kupper briefed analysts and media on ASX's numbers. What this means is that the rises in activity in the share and derivatives markets that ASX has reported for the first seven weeks of the new financial year are a bit misleading. The cash market daily average trading value of $3.8 billion a day in the first seven weeks of the new financial year is for example up 7.7 per cent up on the same period last year, but but also well down on average daily trades of $4.55 billion in the June half just completed. ASX's daily trading values were in fact higher than they are now at $3.985 billion in the June half of 2009, at the height of global crisis. Similarly, the 396,682 derivatives market contracts that ASX handled in the first seven weeks of the new financial year was up 14.9 per cent on the same, weak period last year, but well down on average daily volume of 509,194 contracts in the June half of this year. Seasonal factors make the comparisons imperfect, but it is clear that the market rally is not not yet translating into a sustained and powerful increase in trading activity, or in floats and follow-on share issues by listed companies. ASX needs both prices and volumes to lift to be at its best, and it is not in that sweet spot yet.