Trading volumes on German stock exchanges in the year 2000 hit an all-time record of EUR 6,1 trillion (preliminary figure), adding approximately 20 percent to the previous year's level of EUR 5,1 billion. Equities, warrants and Exchange Traded Funds accounted for EUR 4,7 trillion (1999: EUR 2,9 trillion), while approx. EUR 1,4 trillion worth of bonds changed hands (1999: EUR 2,2 trillion). The Frankfurt Stock Exchange accounted for approximately 84 percent of the overall equities trading volume on all German exchanges. All figures shown are preliminary, incorporating estimated volumes for the last exchange trading day. The highest monthly volume of EUR 844 million was recorded in March 2000.
The proportion of shares traded on Xetra continued to rise steadily throughout the year, particularly for small caps and medium-sized issues. The Xetra market share in MDAX issues reached 65 percent at the end of November this year, compared to 41.6 percent in December 1999. Xetra also recorded gains in SDAX and NEMAX 50 issues, accounting for 31.5 percent of SDAX (December 1999: 18.6 percent) and approximately 63 percent of NEMAX 50 trading (December 1999: 34.3 percent).
In 2000 Deutsche Börse extended the trading hours and opened for trading on German public holidays that are not observed on a pan-European basis. Since the extension of trading hours to 8:00 p.m. (instead of 5:30 p.m.), the extra trading time has attracted approximately 11 percent of daily equity trading. According to Deutsche Börse, this extension has proven attractive for retail investors, while the extra trading sessions introduced on Ascension Day, Whit Monday, Corpus Christi and the Day of German Unity predominantly attracted international market participants and investors. Thanks to their activities, the extra days got off to a good start in their initial year, with volumes reaching more than 65 per cent of the daily average.
2000 was the 'Year of the IPO'. Although the number of new issues showed a slight decline, from 168 in 1999 to 153 this year, the overall issuing volume soared to a record of approx. EUR 26 trillion (1999: EUR 12.9 trillion). A total of 133 companies chose a listing on Neuer Markt, beating last year's number of 132 Neuer Markt IPOs.
