13 million transactions were traded on Euronext cash markets during March, an increase of 24% year-on-year. March trading brings the total number of transactions in the year-to-date to over 36 million, an increase of over 12% on the first three months of 2002. In March, the average daily number of transactions reached around 642,000, compared to 575,000 in the year-to-date.
Shares
With 12.6 million transactions, the growth in share transactions was equal, at over 24% year-on-year, bringing the increase in the year-to-date to around 13% year-to-date with a total of 34 million transactions traded. The average daily number of transactions was over 601,000 in March, and 540,000 in the year-to-date.
Trackers
A strong increase was also registered in trackers, where transactions were up 215% year-on-year and up 111% in the year-to-date, with a total of 70,000 transactions traded in March and 131,000 in the year-to-date.
Derivatives products
Euronext.liffe, the international derivatives business of Euronext, has traded 69 million futures and options contracts in March 2003, with an average daily volume of 3.3 million contracts, up 10% on March last year.
For the first quarter of 2003, Euronext.liffe has traded a total of 181 million contracts.
Interest rate products have shown the strongest growth, with 29 million contracts traded during March 2003, up 108% on the same month last year and up 54% in the year-to-date. Within that product range, Three-Month Euribor futures and options were the leading products posting an all-time record trading volume of 20 million contracts, an increase of 130% on March last year and 65% increase in the year-to-date.
Euronext.liffe is the largest equity options exchange in the world by volume and offers the widest range of options on European stocks. For the first quarter of 2003, Euronext.liffe traded a total of 66 million equity options. In addition equity index products traded 43 million contracts, an increase of 24% compared to March last year. Commodity product volumes year-to-date are 18% up on last year.
