Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris, 7 January 2002 - Trading activity in December was affected by the higher than usual number of closing days, due mainly to preparations for the introduction of the physical euro. Equity trading on the orderbooks of Euronext N.V. totalled €103.14 billion during the 17 trading days of December 2001 - the last 10 days of the month included only three trading days.
The number of trades on Euronext's electronic orderbooks was down 9.4% from December 2000 to stand at 8.88 million. In this context, daily traded volumes averaged €5.73 billion, or 19.8% less than in the same month of 2000.
Over 2001 as a whole, in a challenging economic environment, Euronext's equity markets proved very resilient, with daily trading averaging €6.59 billion, compared with the €6.72 billion average of 2000 - which was an all-time high. The total amount traded in 2001 reached €1,668 billion, down by a small 2.1% from 2000, which was a record year. Total trades, counting all product categories, came to 117,114,961, a decline of 9.3% from the historical peak of 129,125,012 trades executed in 2000.
On NextTrack, the compartment dedicated to exchange-traded funds (ETF), trading averaged €89.2 million a day in December, up from €75.7 million in November. NextTrack was launched on 9 January 2001 and now counts 48 listed funds.
The Euronext 100 index gained 3.5% in December and the Next 150 index was up 1.5%. Over the year as a whole, the Euronext 100 fell 19.7% and the Next 150 declined 21.3%.
During 2001, Euronext's regulated markets welcomed 45 new listings. On 31 December 2001, the total market capitalisation of the 1,539 companies listed on Euronext stood at €2,070 billion.
Since 29 October 2001, Euronext equity markets have used a single trading platform, creating the first pan-European electronic market.
Derivatives - Trading up 22.1% in 2001
On Euronext's derivatives markets, total trading was up 21.7% from December 2000, with 26.53 million contracts changing hands. Trades in index and equity options showed a particularly vigorous year-on-year rises of 31% and 50.7%, respectively.
Over year as a whole, 398.73 million futures and option contracts were traded, or 22.1% more than the 326.65 million recorded in 2000.
Euronext N.V., the first pan-European exchange, was created in September 2000 by the merger of the Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris exchanges. Euronext N.V. has itself been listed on Euronext since 6 July 2001.
