The average daily number of UK and international trades on the London Stock Exchange in March 2003 was 227,907 compared with 207,476 in March 2002 (a 10 per cent increase). The total value of UK and international trades in March 2003 was 274 billion, down from 408 billion. There were 21 business days in March 2003 compared with 20 in March 2002
The total number of UK trades in March 2003 was 3.88 million, up 34 per cent from 2.89 million in March 2002. However, the value of UK shares traded decreased by five per cent to 144.7 billion, down from 151.7 billion in March 2002.
In March the number of trades on SETS, the Exchange’s electronic order book, increased 90 per cent to 2.87 million trades compared with 1.51 million in March 2002. The value traded on SETS increased by 17 per cent to 59.7 billion in 2003, up from 50.9 billion in March 2002.
The average daily number of trades on SETS was 136,440, up from 75,392 in March 2002. SETS achieved a 65.2 per cent share of eligible trades by value in March 2003, compared with 58.4 per cent in March 2002.
Covered warrants, launched by the London Stock Exchange in October 2002, reported record trading in March 2003 of 2,708 trades, 84 per cent higher than February 2003, when there were 1,472 trades. The total value of these trades was 10.12 million. There are now 419 warrants available on the Exchange issued by Goldman Sachs International, JP Morgan, SG and TradingLab.
On the primary market there were 8 new issues during March 2003, 3 of which were IPOs, all on AIM. This compares with 9 IPOs in March 2002 – 6 on the Main Market and 3 on AIM.