TSX A Global Leader In Trading Liquidity - Trading Liquidity At The TSX Better Than In Japan, UK And At NASDAQ

The liquidity of Canada's principal marketplace, the TSX, as measured by the market impact cost of trading, is among the best in the world, according to a recent study by Deutsche Bank and Birinyi Associates, Inc. The study, conducted earlier this year, ranks Canada just behind France and the stocks trading in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The study found that Canada's trading costs are 3.81 basis points per trade (BPS). BPS is the volume weighted price change per trade as a percentage of the total dollar volume for a given period.

To put that in perspective, NASDAQ's costs are 8.45 BPS, in the U.K. it is 10.56 BPS and in Singapore, costs rise to 15.77 BPS. The study looked at literally millions of trades around the world in over 1150 stocks representing more than 30 different major market indices. In addition to trading costs, it also examined related factors such as liquidity, volatility, and pre and post market trading. Canadian trading was based on the Toronto 35 Index.

"We plan to continue to operate an efficient and cost effective market for our participants," said Richard Nesbitt, President of TSX Markets, the TSX Group's trading operations. "As an exchange, we value being innovative and proactive in serving our customers across the country in the senior and the junior markets."

The study also found that in general when dealing with cross-listed securities, trading spreads and costs are significantly higher for foreign market listings compared with listings on the home market. Fewer than 200 issues are listed on both the TSX and on U.S. markets and the majority of this interlisted trading (64% of the total dollar value traded) continues to occur in Canada.

Concurrently in 2001 and 2002, TSX Markets significantly reduced trading fees. TSX Markets launched a number of new trading features, aimed at remaining competitive and enhancing the services offered to market participants. TSX Markets launched Voluntary Broker Attribution in March, under which brokers can select not to identify their broker identification numbers. In April, Iceberg Orders were launched, allowing firms to enter large orders into the TSX order book while only disclosing a small portion of the order. Finally TSX Markets launched POSIT Canada in April. POSIT Canada is an electronic, anonymous order-matching system for equities.

TSX are the initials attached to the core operations of the TSX Group: Toronto Stock Exchange, TSX Venture Exchange, TSX Markets and TSX Datalinx. TSX Group operates Canada's two national stock exchanges serving the senior equity and public venture equity markets. TSX Group is headquartered in Toronto and maintains offices in Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver.