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PLUS Markets today reported its February trading activity of 354,066 trades, valued at £2,897.62 million, representing 1,638.44 million shares. In a short month – and a less volatile one - as against January, trading activity levels remained strong. The average daily number of trades on PLUS held steady at 16,860, contrasting credibly against other markets – for example, the average daily number of trades on AIM was 14,586 in the same month.*
Empirical evidence that small & mid-cap liquidity is moving to PLUS
In February 2008, for those c.80 AIM stocks dual-trading on the PLUS platform, PLUS trading activity represented 51% market share by number of shares traded. This represented an increase of ten percentage points on the previous month, and took PLUS’s share of trading in those stocks into majority territory for the first time.
Furthermore, in February, as in January, over 400 small and mid-cap securities saw 50% or more of their trades taking place on PLUS and not the LSE, consolidating its position as a leading small and mid-cap UK stock exchange. By number of trades, PLUS captured c.40% market share of the FTSE Fledgling index and 10% of the FTSE SmallCap index – both indices of smaller Official List securities.
Retail trading activity on PLUS continues to increase in terms of on-exchange market share, including in some of the heaviest traded UK stocks:- Royal Bank of Scotland - 3.25% of on-exchange total trade value (up from 2.51% in January);
- Alliance & Leicester – 3.92% (2.40%)
- British Airways – 3.31% (1.85%)
Strong levels of IPO activity
The PLUS-quoted market displayed a strong performance with a significant increase on total funds raised for the first two months of the year, up by 17% at £ 9.9m (Jan and Feb 2007: £8.5m). Year to date, ten companies have joined the PLUS-quoted market, with seven further new applications already received.
Business Development Director Cyril Théret said, “We are pleased to see continued strong momentum across both trading and IPO activity on the PLUS market, reflecting the growing attractiveness of PLUS as a leading small and mid-cap UK stock exchange.”
*(Source: London Stock Exchange AIM market statistics fact sheet, February ’08)
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.
|
Month |
Bargains |
Trade value |
Number of shares |
|
October ‘07 |
64,311 |
£ 404.50 m |
537.76 m |
|
November ‘07 |
206,442 |
£1,613.69 m |
948.43 m |
|
December ‘07 |
207,113 |
£1,792.22 m |
1,020.22 m |
|
January ‘08 |
397,419 |
£2,893.84 m |
1,738.03 m |
|
February ‘08 |
354,066 |
£2,897.62
m |
1,638.44
m |
