- Equity turnover up 8% to €11.7 billion, market capitalisation also rises but trade numbers fall
- Irish Government bond turnover grows threefold with bond market capitalisation increasing by 17%
- All ISEQ equity & bond indices show growth in Q1
- International specialist markets remain challenged
Equity turnover up 8% to €11.7 billion, market capitalisation also rises but trade numbers fall
The statistics show that equity turnover increased by 8% to €11.7 billion in the first quarter of 2010 [Q1 2009: €10.9 billion]. However trading volumes in equities quoted on the Exchange [492k] and the daily average number of trades [7,817] were lower than the figures recorded in Q1 2009 [571k and 9,058 respectively].
Market capitalisation of equities admitted to trading on the ISE rose by 8% to €48.3 billion from the 2009 end of year figure recorded.
Four companies trading on the ISE raised funds of €89 million during Q1 [€1.280 billion in Q1 2009]. The most significant fund raising was by IFG Group plc in March of €66m [Q1 2009 figure included fund raising by CRH plc of €1.278 billion].
Irish Government bond turnover grows threefold with bond market capitalisation increasing by 17%
Strong activity in Irish Government Bonds and Treasury Bills continued into the first quarter of 2010. Turnover in Irish Government Bonds and Treasury Bills grew more than threefold compared to the figure recorded in the first quarter of 2009 [€85.7 billion compared to €25 billion in Q1 2009]. The market capitalisation of Irish Government debt also increased during the period, rising by 17% to €84.2 billion from the value recorded at the end of 2009.
All ISEQ equity and bond indices show growth in Q1
The review highlights that all ISEQ equity indices showed growth in the first quarter. The overall index of stocks quoted on the Exchange rose by 7% with the ISEQ 20 index, which is tracked by the ISEQ 20 exchange traded fund, showing growth of 9%. The specialist indices continued their strong performance from 2009 with the ISEQ 20 leveraged index rising by 18% and the ISEQ 20 capped index growing by 10% in Q1.
All ISEQ bond indices, which measure the return on Irish Government securities, showed positive growth in the first quarter from their year end 2009 position, with the highest returns noted in the 5 year plus and 10 year plus indices at 3.7% and 4% respectively.
International specialist markets remain challenged
The ISE’s specialist markets for funds and debt securities remain affected by challenging market conditions arising from the global credit crisis. However new fund and sub fund listings continued to show some evidence of the recovery noted in the last quarter of 2009, with new listings of 121 in this quarter [Q4 2009: 106].
New debt tranches listed in the first quarter were 634 [Q4 2009: 988] bringing the total level of debt listings to 24,000 at the end of March 2010.
