London Stock Exchange Group: Equity Value Traded Up Two Per Cent In April - Continued Strong Performance On The Group's Government Bond Trading Platform, MTS

In April, the average daily value traded across London Stock Exchange Group's equity markets was £7.7 billion (€8.8 billion), up two per cent on last year. 16.0 million equity trades were carried out across the Group's electronic order books, with a combined value of £153 billion (€175 billion), also up two per cent per cent on April 2009. The average daily number of trades was 802,118, 24 per cent lower than the same month last year.

UK Cash Equities

The average daily value traded on the UK equity order book was £4.1 billion (€4.7 billion) a decrease of eight per cent year on year, while the average daily number of trades was down 27 per cent at 509,596.      

Italian Cash Equities

During April, the average daily number of trades in Italian equities was 237,784, down 23 per cent on the same month last year. The average daily value traded during the month was up eight per cent at €3.2 billion (£2.8 billion).

International Cash Equities

Total value traded in international equities increased 63 per cent on April 2009 to £14.6 billion, while the average daily value traded was also up 63 per cent year on year, totalling £731 million (€836 million). The average daily number of trades was 54,738, up 16 per cent on last April.

ETFs and ETCs

Trading in ETFs and ETCs saw the average daily number of trades up 50 per cent year on year, totalling 18,655. The average daily value traded was up 40 per cent to £480 million (€549 million).

Included in the strong monthly performance was a new single day record for both turnover and number of trades on ETFPlus on 28 April, with 29,691 trades and a value of £677 million (€778 million).

Derivatives

The average daily number of contracts traded on the Group's derivatives markets was down 38 per cent on April 2009. The average daily notional value traded was £3.2 billion, (€3.6 billion) down 13 per cent.

On 19 April FTSE MIB Dividend futures was launched, widening the range of products now available on IDEM.

On April 28, FTSE MIB mini futures standard contracts recorded all time highs with 26,837 standard contracts traded. On the same day, the number of IDEM equity derivatives recorded all time highs of 63,266 trades and FTSE MIB futures trades recorded the highest level of the year with 31,226 trades.

Fixed income

Trading on the MTS Cash markets continued to show strong growth, with the average daily value traded during the month up by 44 per cent year on year at €10.8 billion (£9.5 billion). On the MTS Repo market, the average term adjusted daily value traded increased by 78 per cent year on year to €253.9 billion (£222.0 billion).

The average daily value traded during April on the Group's retail bond markets was €961 million (£841 million), down 14 per cent on the same month last year. The average daily number of trades was down six per cent at 15,156.

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For further information, please contact:

Alastair Fairbrother +44 (0)20 7797 1222

Anna Mascioni +39 02 72426 212  

Additional Information:

This release uses only electronic trading data; trades that are reported to the either London Stock Exchange or Borsa Italiana under their rules but executed away from their electronic order books are not included.

There were 20 trading days on the London Stock Exchange and on Borsa Italiana during April 2010, the same as last year.

During April, the average daily number of trades on SETS - covering all equity based order book trading on the London Stock Exchange - was 548,681 down 25 per cent on April 2009.  The average daily value traded was £4.8 billion, a decrease of 2 per cent year on year.

Primary market data for March will be available on the websites of London Stock Exchange and Borsa Italiana later in the month.

The April 2010 value traded figures use a € per £ exchange rate of 1.14. The exchange rate used for April 2009 was 1.11.