The number of electronic equity trades carried out on the London Stock Exchange and Borsa Italiana during March 2008 averaged 1.1 million per day, an increase of 33% on March 2007, which at the time was a record month on both exchanges markets.
A total of 21.2 million equity trades were carried out during the month. Despite the lower market values and the very strong comparators, the average combined daily value traded also increased, up 1% to 13.2 billion.
The total number of equity trades for the first calendar quarter of 2008 was up 46% to 70 million compared to the same period in 2007. The total value traded in Q1 was 850 billion, an increase of 14%.
During March the average daily number of trades on the UK Order Book was 767,195, up 56% on March 2007, a record month at the time. Total number of electronic equity trades for the month was 14.6 million. The average daily value traded was 8.7 billion, up 7%.
The total number of trades during Q1 2008 was 48.5 million, an increase of 78 per cent compared to Q1 2007. The total value traded in Q1 was 564 billion, an increase of 21% compared to the same period in 2007.
The average daily number of trades in Italian equities during March 2008 was 304,019, 2% less than last years record but an increase of 8% on last month. The average daily value traded was 4.7 billion during March 2008; like the number of trades, this was down on last March but up on the previous month.
The total number of trades on the order book during March 2008 was 5.8 million and the total value traded was 88.5 billion.
There were 798,064 electronic trades in international equities carried out across the two exchanges markets in March 2008. On a daily basis, this equated to an average of 42,003 trades, an increase of 25% on the previous year.
The total value of international equity trades during Q1 2008 was 54.3 billion, an increase of 17% compared to the same period in 2007. In total, there were 2.5 million electronic trades on the international order books, an increase of 20% compared to the same period in 2007.
During March, there was a strong year on year increase in the number and value of ETFs and ETCs traded across the two markets: the average daily number of ETFs and ETCs traded rose 64% to 8,083 while the average daily value traded increased 108% to 278 million. The total number of ETFs and ETCs traded was 153,571 and the total value traded was 5.3 billion.
March was a record month for trading in UK ETCs. The total number of trades increased to 22,287, almost nine times more than the previous years figures.The total value of ETCs traded was 1.2 billion, a seven fold year on year increase.
The average daily number of contracts traded on EDX and IDEM during March was 380,695, up 21% on the previous year. A total of 7.2 million contracts were traded during the month with a notional value of 146.6 billion.
Separately, there were 220,115 trades in securitised derivatives during the month, amounting to a total value traded of 1.6 billion.