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London Stock Exchange Monthly Market Report For May 2004 - Trading On SETS Reaches New High

Date 09/06/2004

Trading on SETS, the London Stock Exchange's electronic order book, reached a new high in May 2004 as the Exchange recorded more year on year increases in trading across its markets.

Over the course of May, the daily average number of trades on SETS reached a new high of 163,565, an increase of 29 per cent on the daily average for the same month last year. The total number of trades on SETS was up 23 per cent to 3.11 million, while the total value traded increased 28 per cent to £71.0 billion. A similar growth trend was reflected in SETSmm, the Exchange's electronic order book for FTSE 250 and other leading non order book securities, which reached a new monthly record of 260,588 trades during May.

Overall there were 4.09 million UK equity trades on the Exchange, an increase of 13 per cent on last May. The value traded rose 32 per cent to £189.6 billion, up from £143.3 billion in May 2003.

On 24 May, the Exchange launched its new EUROSETS Dutch Trading Service. In the first week of trading, the value traded on book was €109.6 million, whilst off-book business amounted to €1.1 billion. This start was in line with expectations, and once vendors resolve their outstanding software issues it is expected that the service will develop.

A new record was also set in the value of trades in covered warrants. On average, £6.19 million worth of covered warrants was traded each day on the Exchange during May 2004. This was significantly up on the daily average of £345,823 traded during May 2003, and approaches the £6.92 million total value traded in covered warrants for the whole of that month.

There were twenty nine new issues on the primary market in May, raising over £600 million between them. Four of these new issues were on the main market, including two IPOs. The rest were on AIM, which saw seventeen IPOs.

There were nineteen business days in May 2004, compared with twenty in May 2003.