Paris Markets Transaction Volumes Slightly Down in May

Despite showing a 5.58% dip compared to the previous month, May's daily average transaction volume of EUR2.47 billion exchanged on the Premier Marché and Second Marché marked a 19.22% rise compared to the average for the whole of 1998. The total transaction volume of EUR258.75 billion for the first five months of the year showed a 26.4% increase compared to the same period in 1998, with the number of trades rising by 16.8% at 21.5 million. The total number of trades for May was 3.9 million. Le Nouveau Marché's trading activity decreased to EUR5.82 million in May from EUR6.72 million the previous month. The month's average transaction volume stood at EUR10.59 million as the total volume reached EUR211.95 million, 45% of which was accounted for by Omnicom's initial public offering. The average daily number of trades remained stable at 2,795. The total number of trades for the month's 20 sessions was 55,892. Trading of French stocks totalled EUR49.37 billion in May with an average of 194,971 trades per session, down 6.44% compared to April. On May 31, the total capitalisation of French equities on the Premier Marché and Second Marché was EUR944 billion. Trading on the MATIF and MONEP involved 14,064,242 derivative contracts in May, a 19.8% decline for the month. A total of 13,278,822 equity and index derivatives contracts were traded on the MONEP for a total value of EUR976.78 million as open interest rose by 9.6% compared to April, at 24,086,331 lots. On MATIF, 776,045 fixed-interest and 9,375 commodity-futures contracts were traded during the 21 trading days.