The trading volume on Germany’s stock exchanges increased substantially in March. Order book statistics, which are based on single counting of all transactions in the order book of Xetra and floor trading, show that the German stock exchanges generated an equities turnover of Euros 112.13 billion- around 32 percent more than in the previous month and 52 percent more than in March 2003. Euros 104.91 billion of this total relates to trading in German equities, with foreign equities accounting for Euros 7.22 billion. Compared with the first quarter of last year, equities trading increased by 46 percent (Euros 295 billion in Q1/2004).
The aggregate turnover statistics show a total volume of €370 billion was traded on the German stock exchanges in March. This equates to a month-on-month increase of around 25.7 percent and 38.8 percent more than in the prior-year period. This total includes Euros 297.13 billion in equities, warrants and exchange traded funds, as well as Euros 73.23 billion in fixed-income securities. Around 97 percent of trading in German in March equities was posted on Xetra and on the floor of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Roughly 82 percent of foreign equities were traded on Xetra and via floor trading at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Transactions concluded on Xetra reached record new levels. Around 7.6 million transactions were executed on Xetra in March, up some 28.8 percent month-on-month and 13.7 percent as against the prior-year period. The first quarter of this year shows an increase of 16 percent in transactions compared with last years first quarter.
According to the Xetra liquidity measure (XLM), Siemens AG was the most liquid equity on the DAX in March with 6.9 bp for an order volume of Euros 100,000. Celanese was the most liquid MDAX stock with 24 bp. The most liquid exchange traded fund was the Eb.Rexx Government Germany EX with 4.9 bp. XLM is a measure of liquidity in electronic securities trading based on implicit transaction costs and is calculated in basis points (1 bp = 0.01 percent) for every security in continuous trading, for a roundtrip in the Xetra order book.
Deutsche Bank was the DAX blue chip traded most on the Xetra in March at Euros 9.54 billion. Depfa Bank was the top MDAX stock with Euros 721.95 million. EM.TV was the leading SDAX stock with Euros 134 million and T-Online topped the TecDAX with Euros 683.51 million. At Euros 1.95 billion, the DAX EX was once again the exchange traded fund with the largest turnover.