The end of 2010 also marks the end of the first trading decade of the new millennium. Investors experienced ten turbulent years which demanded strong nerves: the bursting of the dot.com bubble in 2000 to begin with, the terror attack against the World Trade Center in 2001 resulting in the war against Iraq, exploding prices for raw material since 2005, the subprime crisis in 2007 and enormous business activity programs as well as the increase in liquidity through the federal banks in 2009 investors had to stomach a lot.
In 2010 equity markets profited from cheap money. The boom of the share markets was nourished by the prospect of positive business developments of many companies. Against this background bonds fell out of favor with investors. The debt crisis of European states like Greece and Ireland led to a loss of confidence in state securities.
The shift towards shares was also mirrored in the allocation of trades according to security classes in Xontro trading at Brse Berlin. Shares accounted for 67% of all transactions in Berlin, an increase of 8% against 2009. Also investors appear to be increasingly interested in funds they accounted for 13% of all trades. Bonds lost 4% against the boom year 2009 and made up 17% of all trades. All in all the number of trades carried out at Brse Berlin increased by 11.4% against the previous year.
Equiduct, Brse Berlins second market place next to Xontro, passed an important milestone on its way to becoming a market place for shares in Europe with some weight. In November trade volume surpassed the mark of 1 billion euro for the first time in one calendar month. Seen against October 2010 Equiduct doubled its turnovers. Other than its European competitors Equiduct addresses private investors specifically – and advances into a market gap successfully.
Overall, Brse Berlin looks back on a positive year 2010. The strategy, to establish a second, fully automatic market place for private investors on European level next to Xontro, pays off thanks to the commitment of Citadel Securities and Knight Capital Group. We expect further positive developments for both market places, says Serge Demolire, chairman of the Supervisory Board of Brse Berlin.