PLUS Volumes Up 129% - Emphasising The Value In UK Equity Retail Flow

PLUS Markets Group today posted its trading activity for the month. In July, reported flow on PLUS was up year-on-year. Bargains increased 73% at 619,738 while trade value rose 67% to £4.69bn and the number of shares rose 129% to almost 5bn (4.85bn) compared with the same month in 2008.

Flow on PLUS’ quote-driven platform has continued to see buoyant performance with PLUS attracting considerable volumes, especially in the retail space. Market share remains steady in the core small and mid-caps as well as in large-caps.

In the June Thomson Reuters MiFID market share report^*, PLUS displayed steady performance with over 4% by volume in UK equities, and in the FTSE 100, the exchange garnered over 3% market share by volume. More recently PLUS attracted good volumes in two of the most active FTSE 100 stocks – RBS and Lloyds. Specifically at market close in consecutive days:

Business Development Director, Cyril Theret notes: “We’re very pleased with the surge in our volumes particularly since it’s a traditionally quiet period. This clearly demonstrates the continued importance of retail flow in the UK Equity market. PLUS remains committed to facilitating retail liquidity via our quote-driven platform which guarantees liquidity in a wide range of PLUS traded stocks.”

Year-to-date, 5,682,996 bargains worth £34.634bn representing over 40.851bn shares, have taken place on PLUS. Last year (2008), a total of 5,110,920 bargains worth £36.390bn representing over 26.106bn shares took place on PLUS.

^*http://www.thomsonreuters.com/products_services/financial/financial_products/products_az/regulatory_compliance_mifid#tab3

PLUS Markets is an independent stock exchange in London, with “Recognised Investment Exchange” status, and classed as a Market Operator under MiFID. Its offering includes the full range of stock exchange activities, namely: trading execution, the provision of proprietary market data and listing/quotation destinations. PLUS currently trades over 7,500 securities on its platform including London-listed shares (including the FTSE 100), European liquid shares, and unlisted shares quoted on the AIM and PLUS markets.