The number of trades on the equity order books of London Stock Exchange Group totaled in 263 million, an increase of 25% compared to 2007.
The year recorded 84 of the 100 busiest ever days on the London Stock Exchange, with the total number of trades in London alone exceeding 1 million on 23 occasions. Across the Group’s equity order books the average daily number of trades grew 24% to 1,038,327.
The reductions of 16 and 31% in the average value of the FTSE 100 and MIB indices impacted the value traded on the Group’s equity order books. Total value traded across the year was 2.9 trillion in 2008, an 11% decrease on 2007.
In December, the average daily value traded fell 49% to 5.6 billion (€5.9 billion), while the average daily number of trades across the Group was 772,246, down 10% on last year.
In 2008 the total number of UK equity trades on the order book grew 39% to 186.5 million, exceeding the total for the whole of 2007 by mid-September. The total value traded reached 1.9 trillion (€2.4 trillion); though down 6% on 2007, this reflects a significant increase in the velocity of trading given the 16% decline in the FTSE 100 during 2008.
The average daily number of trades on the UK order book during December was 556,218, down 6% year on year, while the average daily value traded during the month was 3.8 billion (€4.0 billion), down 44% on December 2007, reflecting a 34% decline in the average value of the FTSE 100 between December 2007 and December 2008.
Across the year the total number of trades on the Group’s international order books was 11.1 million, up 35% on 2007, while the value traded grew six per cent year on year to 199.9 billion (€252.9 billion).
The average daily number of trades in December grew 12% to 32,368. Falls in global market valuations contributed to a 57% drop in the average daily value traded to 319.4 million (€335.3 million).
Strong ETF and ETC trading continued during 2008, with the value traded reaching 65.8 billion (€82.2 billion), up 89% on the 2007 total. The total number of ETF and ETC trades was 1.8 million, a 20% year on year increase.
During the month the value traded in ETFs and ETCs was up 110% on the previous December to 6.1 billion (€6.4 billion), while the number of trades grew 47% to 150,273.
Year on year the number of contracts traded across the Group’s derivatives markets grew 20% to 91.9 million, while the notional value traded remained flat at 1.4 trillion (€1.8 trillion).
During December the average daily number of derivatives contracts traded across the Group was 293,939, down 5% compared with December 2007, while the notional average daily value traded decreased by 29% to 4.8 billion (€5.0 billion).
L.D.