The Volume Of Trades In Government Securities On The MICEX In The First Quarter Of 2003 Reached 307,9 Bln Rubles, Almost 10 Times More Than In The Same Period Of 2002

The volume of trades in government securities (GKO-OFZ) on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX) in the first quarter of 2003 reached 307,9 bln rubles. This exceeds considerably the results of the first quarter of 2002 (31,9 bln rubles).

The liquidity of the secondary GKO-OFZ market has shown growth. The absolute value of the market depth (the total volume of orders) in the 1st quarter of 2003 reached 191,6 bln rubles against 43,1 bln rubles in the same period of 2002, while the market density (the average value of spreads between the minimal price of sell orders and the maximal price of buy orders) decreased from 0,688% to 0,552%.

The structure of transactions involving GKO-OFZ (in bln rubles) in the 1st quarter of 2003:

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	1 quarter of 2002	1 quarter of 2003
Auctions	14,9	50,0
Secondary trades	16,5	81,8
Direct REPO against the Bank of Russia	0,0	35,8
Sale of government securities from the Bank of Russia’s portfolio with their obligatory repurchase	0,4	140,3
Total volume of trades	31,9	307,9

In the first quarter of 2003 the most aggressive dealers in GKO-OFZ market were: Sberbank of Russia, Deutche Bank, Citybank, International Moscow Bank, ROSBANK, Moscow Municipal Bank - the Bank of Moscow, ING BANK (Eurasia), Promyshlenno-Stroitelnyi Bank, Credit Swiss First Boston Bank and International Bank of St.Petersburg.