Monthly Report - August 2009

Strong performances were recorded across a range of London Stock Exchange Group’s markets during August.  In fixed income, the average daily value traded on Borsa Italiana’s retail fixed income market, MOT, nearly doubled year on year, and the average daily value traded on the MTS Cash markets increased by 13 per cent.  Meanwhile, year on year volume growth of 20 per cent on IDEM confirmed the positive impact of price changes introduced six months ago.

On the equity markets, the average daily value traded across the Group’s electronic order books during August was £6.2 billion (€7.2 billion), an increase of 11 per cent on July this year, though down by 31 per cent compared with the same month last year.  The total value traded during the month was £127.2 billion (€147.5 billion).  The average daily number of equity trades during the month was 785,370, a decrease of 11 per cent year on year, and the total number of equity trades was 15.9 million.

UK Cash Equities

The average daily value traded on the UK order book during the month was £3.6 billion (€4.2 billion), down by 42 per cent year on year, though up by four per cent compared with July.  The total value traded was £72.1 billion (€83.6 billion).

The average daily number of trades decreased by 17 per cent year on year to 526,709, but increased by six per cent compared with the average for July.  The total number of UK equity trades during the month was 10.5 million.

Italian Cash Equities

On the Italian equity order book the average daily value traded was ahead of the average for July by 29 per cent, though this was flat year on year at €2.5 billion (£2.2 billion).  The total value traded during the month was €53.3 billion (£46.0 billion).

There was an eight per cent increase in the average daily number of trades in Italian equities compared to August 2008, with 216,653 trades per day.  This was also up on July’s average, by 14 per cent.  The total number of trades during the month was 4.5 million.

International Cash Equities

The average daily value traded on the Group’s international equity order books was £453 million (€525 million), a decrease of 49 per cent on August last year.  The average daily number of trades was 42,008, a decline of seven per cent year on year. 

ETFs and ETCs

Trading in ETFs and ETCs remained relatively strong, with the average daily number of trades more than doubling, up by 158 per cent year on year to 12,154.  The average daily value traded was up by 46 per cent to £306 million (€355 million).

Derivatives

On the Group’s derivatives markets, EDX London and IDEM, the average daily number of trades remained stable compared to the previous August at 310,813.  The average daily notional value traded was £3.3 billion (€3.8 billion), 20 per cent lower than the same month last year.

Since the beginning of the year, both IDEM and EDX have recorded positive volume growth. Growth on IDEM has been particularly marked, with an increase of 16 per cent in the total number of contracts traded during the first eight months of the year, and open interest increasing by 30 per cent to over 5 million open positions at the end of the period. 

IDEM’s strong year on year growth can be attributed to the new pricing scheme for single stock derivatives which has now been in effect for six months.  Since the start of the year, the number of contracts traded in stock futures has increased by 87 per cent year on year, while open interest at the end of the period was nearly 300 per cent higher than at the end of August 2008. 

Fixed income

MOT, Borsa Italiana’s fixed income market for retail investors achieved a strong performance during August, with the average daily value nearly doubling year on year, up by 96 per cent to €746 million (£643 million).

On the MTS Cash markets, the average daily value traded was up by 13 per cent year on year at €6.9 billion (£6.0 billion).  On the MTS Repo market, the average term adjusted daily value traded increased by 15 per cent year on year to €142.2 billion (£122.7 billion).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Catherine Mattison +44 (0)20 7797 1222
Anna Mascioni +39 02 72426 212  

Additional Information:

This release uses only electronic trading data; trades that are reported to the either London Stock Exchange or Borsa Italiana under their rules but executed away from their electronic order books are not included.

There were 20 trading days on the London Stock Exchange during August 2009, the same as during the previous year, while on Borsa Italiana there were 21 trading days, one more than the previous year.

During August, the average daily number of trades on SETS – covering all equity based order book trading on the London Stock Exchange – was 558,117, down 17 per cent on August 2008.  The average daily value traded was £4.1 billion, a decrease of 42 per cent year on year.

Primary market data for August will be available on the websites of London Stock Exchange and Borsa Italiana later in the month.

The August 2009 value traded figures use a € per £ exchange rate of 1.16. The exchange rate used for August 2008 was 1.26.

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