The value traded on SETS, the Exchange's electronic order book, during February 2004 was £76.3 billion. This was the highest amount ever traded on SETS in a single month and represented a 45 per cent increase from the £52.7 billion traded in February last year. There were 3.12 million trades on SETS in February 2004 - up 20 per cent on February 2003. Included in these figures were 206,875 SETSmm trades worth £2.8 billion. The average daily number of trades on SETS rose to 156,032 from 129,598.
There were 4.44 million UK equity trades on the Exchange in February 2004, an increase of 29 per cent on the total of 3.44 million equity trades in February 2003. The total value of UK shares traded this year was £210.6 billion, up from £124.8 billion in February 2003.
Trading in covered warrants and ETFs also showed year on year gains. In February 2004, there were 8,032 ETF and 4,654 covered warrant trades compared to last February's totals of 4,972 and 1,472 trades respectively.
The number of trades on EDX London increased again in February 2004, with 3.1 million contracts traded. This was 44 per cent up on the previous high in January 2004.
On the primary market, there were 11 new issues in February raising £61.59 million between them. Two of these were on the Main Market (one of which was an IPO) and nine on AIM (four of which were IPOs). This compares with four new issues (one on the Main Market and three on AIM) in February 2003.
There were 20 business days in February 2004, which was the same number as in February 2003.