London Stock Exchange Group: Over 13 Million Electronic Equity Trades In December - Strong Trading Growth In ETFs And ETCs And On MTS

During December, 13.3 million equity trades, with a combined value of £108.4 billion (€120.5 billion), were carried out across the electronic order books of London Stock Exchange Group during December. The average daily number of trades was 640,169, 18 per cent lower than December 2008, while the average daily value traded was £5.2 billion (€5.8billion), a decrease of six per cent on the same month last year. 

A number of the Group's other markets recorded strong performances during the month, with the average daily number of trades in ETFs and ETCs growing by 75 per cent and the average daily value traded on the MTS cash markets increasing by 79 per cent.  

UK Cash Equities

During the month, the average daily value traded on the UK equity order book was £3.1 billion (€3.5 billion), a decrease of 19 per cent year on year, while the average daily number of trades was 426,732, down 24 per cent on the same month last year.

The total value traded on the UK order book in December was £65.7 billion (€73.0 billion) and the total number of trades was 9.0 million.

Italian Cash Equities

On the Italian equity order book, the average daily number of trades in December was 173,235, down six per cent year on year. The average daily value traded during the month was up 17 per cent on last year, reaching €1.8 billion (£1.6 billion).

The total number of trades was 3.5 million, slightly down on last year, while the total value traded was €35.7 billion (£32.1 billion), up 23 per cent on December last year.

International Cash Equities

During December, the average daily value traded in international stocks on the Group's equity order books was up 59 per cent year on year at £511 million (€568 million). The average daily number of trades was 40,201, an increase of 23 per cent on December 2008.

ETFs and ETCs

Trading in ETFs and ETCs continued to grow, with the average daily number of trades in December up by 75 per cent year on year to 13,534.  The average daily value traded was up 17 per cent to £354 million (€393 million).

Derivatives

The average daily number of contracts traded on the Group's derivatives markets, EDX London and IDEM, was down 19 per cent on December 2008, at 253,657.  The average daily notional value traded was £2.9 billion (€3.2 billion), down 40 per cent on the same month the previous year.  During 2009 as a whole, a record 42.6 million contracts were traded on IDEM, a 19 per cent increase on 2008.

Fixed income

Trading on the MTS Cash markets remained strong, with the average daily value traded during the month up by 79 per cent year on year at €9.4 billion (£8.5 billion), while on the MTS Repo market the average term adjusted daily value traded increased by 46 per cent year on year to €176.1 billion (£158.4 billion).

On MOT, Borsa Italiana's retail fixed income market, the average daily value traded during December was €698 million (£628 million), a 12 per cent year on year decrease, while the average daily number of trades was 21 per cent lower than the same month last year at 10,971.  Nevertheless the calendar year as a whole showed a 30 per cent increase in value traded.

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 21 trading days on the London Stock Exchange during December 2009, the same as the previous year, while on Borsa Italiana there were 20 trading days, one more than during December 2008.

During December, the average daily number of trades on SETS - covering all equity based order book trading on the London Stock Exchange - was 457,439 down 22 per cent on December 2008.  The average daily value traded was £3.6 billion, a decrease of 14 per cent year on year.

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

The December 2009 value traded figures use a € per £ exchange rate of 1.11. The exchange rate used for December 2008 was 1.11.