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- Equity market volumes grow by 62% in first half 2008
- Healthy first half for Government bond market
- ISE maintains its primary position in specialist fund and debt listings
The Irish Stock Exchange has reported a substantial increase in the number of daily transactions on the Irish equity market in the first half of 2008, with a 62% increase in volumes over the first half of 2007.
Reflecting the fall in equity valuations, the value of stocks traded in the first half of 2008 was €68.7 billion compared to €101.7 billion in the same period in 2007. Average daily value of trading were €554 million, a 32% fall on the first half of 2007.
Commenting on the first half 2008 performance, Brian Healy, Director of Traded Markets, Development, Operations said “The ISE’s ability to strongly grow the volume of transactions that domestic and international investors execute on our markets emphasises the ISE’s attractiveness as a trading venue and its position as the dominant centre of liquidity for Irish equities”.
“This growth also needs to be seen in the context of the extremely difficult market conditions globally and the ever increasing competitiveness of equity trading in Europe. We are bringing new equity and Government bond traders to the ISE and we are continuing to harness new sources of order flow for the issuers of Irish equities.”
Commenting on the continuing uncertainty in global financial markets, Gerard Scully, Director of International Primary Markets said: “The difficulties in the structured credit markets have resulted in a fall in the number of new debt listings in the second quarter of 2008, however, this has been counterbalanced to some extent by the listing of new Euro commercial paper programmes, covered debt programmes and straight debt programmes. In addition, the first half of 2008 saw a steady flow of new funds to the ISE - a total of 213 new funds and sub-funds listed in the first half of 2008.”
The number of trading members of the ISE has also grown with Collins Stewart Europe Limited being admitted as a general trading member in May. This brings the total number of ISE members to 33. Collins Stewart Europe Limited is a leading independent investment banking group with offices in 12 countries worldwide.
The first half of 2008 also saw another addition to the IEX market with Worldspreads Group Plc being admitted to trading on 15th May. The total number of IEX companies at end of June was 31.
In June the ISE in partnership with Northern Trust Global Investments (NTGI), the asset management arm of Northern Trust, created a major new Exchange Traded Fund in the USA, based on the ISE’s benchmark ISEQ 20 index. The NETS ISEQ 20 ETF, which tracks the performance of the 20 Irish securities included in the ISEQ 20 Index, is currently trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The new ETF is the latest in a suite of products that are being launched by Northern Trust marking its entry into the ETF business. This suite is designed to facilitate investment exposure for US investors to some of the world’s most widely recognised international equity benchmarks, including the ISEQ 20 Index, via ETFs traded on US exchanges.
