5.1 Trillion EURO In Turnover On German Stock Exchanges In 1999 - Increase In Xetra® Share Of Turnover - Record Year For New Issues On German Stock Market

High volumes on the German stock exchanges, a rising share of the turnover for Xetra in various segments, record levels for the indices and a new record in new issues (initial public offerings), that is how Deutsche Börse sums up the year just ended on the stock exchanges. A volume of 5.1 trillion EURO was traded on the German stock exchanges in 1999, which is about at the same level as the previous year (1998: 5.4 trillion EURO). Trading in equities and warrants accounted for 2.9 trillion EURO (previous year: 2.8 trillion EURO) and trading in bonds, 2.2 trillion EURO (previous year: 2.6 trillion EURO). Trading at FWB, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, accounted for about 78.7 percent of the total securities turnover in Germany. These are preliminary figures and include an estimate for the last day of trading. January was the highest-volume month, with about 498 billion EURO posted in turnover. The order-book statistics, which comprise the turnover in the order book of Xetra and broker-supported trading on the floor, show equities turnover of about 842 billion EURO for all of the German stock exchanges in the year just ended. Of this total, volume of about 751 billion EURO was traded in German equities, and 559 billion EURO, or roughly 74 percent, of this total was traded through Xetra. Another 131 billion EURO or 17 percent was traded on the floor of FWB, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In the year just ended, Xetra's share of the equities turnover has risen continuously. In January, 76 percent of the total turnover in DAX stocks was traded through Xetra, by the end of the year this share was about 83 percent. Xetra also further expanded its share of the volume traded in the MDAX (mid-cap) stocks. Xetra's share of this market rose from 27 percent in January to about 42 percent in December. Xetra also gained ground in the Neuer Markt stocks: in December, about 32 percent of all turnover in this segment was posted through the electronic trading system. The stock indices also achieved new record highs: The DAX hit a new all-time high of 6,958.14 points on December 30. The NEMAX 50 also set a new record with 5,212.13 points on December 23, as did the SDAX with 3,072.91 points on July 16. The year 1999 was the year of new issues (IPOs): Compared with 67 IPOs and a total issue volume of about 3.2 billion EURO in 1998, a total of 168 companies went public this year, with an IPO volume of about 13 billion EURO. Of these 168 new issues, 132 companies listed on the Neuer Markt. The market capitalization of Neuer Markt rose from 26 billion EURO in December 1998 to about 111 billion EURO in December 1999. According to the order-book statistics, Mannesmann was the most heavily traded DAX blue chip in the year just ended, with volume of about 64 billion EURO traded. Continental was the leading MDAX stock with 1.2 billion EURO in shares traded, Mobilcom was the top Neuer Markt stock with 1.6 billion EURO in share turnover. Baader Wertpapierhandelshaus ranked first in the SMAX (small-cap quality) segment, with a volume of 58 million EURO traded in its shares.