Euronext cash markets registered their busiest month ever in May 2006, with 22 million transactions completed, up 97.5% on the same month last year. This represents a record daily average of 1 million transactions. In total, more than 96 million transactions have been registered since the beginning of the year, up 52.2% on the same period in 2005, representing a record level at this time of the year and a record daily average of 918,000.
Shares
21 million transactions were completed in shares in May, up 95.6% on the same month in 2005, representing a record average of 953,000 share transactions completed every day. The 18 May was the busiest trading day ever with 1,380,890 transactions completed on shares.
Initial Public Offerings
There were 12 IPOs on all Euronext markets in May 2006, with EUR 5.2 billion raised - both records for the month of May. This brings the total number of new listings so far this year to 42, with EUR 7.2 billion raised. Again, both the total number and value of new listings so far this year are at their highest since 2001.
NextTrack & NextWarrants
Year-on-year transactions were up 230% on NextTrack and up 231% on NextWarrants, which includes warrants and certificates, making May 2006 the busiest month ever for these products.
Derivatives products
Euronext.liffe, the international derivatives business of Euronext, traded its busiest month ever. 77 million futures and options contracts were traded in May 2006, up 53% on the same month last year. The Exchange traded a total of 319 million contracts in the first five months of 2006, up 31% on the same period in 2005.
Short-term interest rate products also had their busiest month ever, trading over 36 million contracts, up 23% January to May. Interest rate products saw strong trading. 39 million contracts were traded in the month, up 33% on May last year. For the year-to-date, volumes were up 24%.
Euronext.liffe’s individual equity products were again the strongest performers. Over 24 million contracts were traded in May 2006, up 88% on May 2005 and up 48% in the year-to-date.
Commodity products traded 743,500 contracts in May 2006, up 43% on May 2005.
New Weekly options launched on the AEX-index® on 26 May have already seen daily volumes of over 10,000. This promising start reflects the dramatic increase in activity in Amsterdam since the move to the full-screen market model and the listing of additional strike prices. Overall volumes in Amsterdam during May were up by over 90% on May last year.
Note
This press release has been prepared using actual volumes for the month, apart from for the last trading day when an estimate based on the average daily volume for the current month is used. Final detailed figures for the month will be published three working days after the end of the month on the Euronext website: www.euronext.com
