Chi-X Europe suffered a fall in Q1 2009 activity compared with the previous quarter, in line with a global slump of equity trading volumes, but the pan-European multilateral trading facility (MTF), also reported strong growth between March and February.
In the first quarter of this year, turnover on Chi-X Europe fell 28% to €149 billion against Q4 2008, while share volume dropped 12% to 21.84 billion. The total number of trades on the platform slipped 10% to 26.48 million. However, Chi-X’s latest figures suggested that European equity volumes are beginning to pick up. The number of trades for March was 34% higher than February at 10.55 million, with share volume rising 42% to 9.18 billion. March turnover rose 29% to €57.17 billion over the previous month.
In March, Credit Suisse reported that average daily equity trading volumes in January and February fell by 16% in Europe and 13% in Asia year on year, but rose 25% in the US over the same period in 2008.
Chi-X Europe, which offers trading in the component stocks of 18 indices across 13 major European markets, was the first alternative trading venue to launch in Europe in April 2007. Since the introduction of MiFID in November 2007, it has been joined by displayed liquidity venues Turquoise, BATS Europe, Nasdaq OMX Europe and NYSE Arca Europe, as well as a number of dark venues. The platform was initially launched by agency broker Instinet Europe, a subsidiary of Japanese financial services group Nomura, but has since widened its shareholder base.
Chi-X Europe’s latest quarterly figures also revealed the continued inroads the platform has made into the market share of Europe’s major stock exchanges over the past three months. The MTF reported that it reached an 18.37% share of trading in FTSE 100 stocks on 23 March, also claiming highs of 14.50% and 14.21% market shares in blue chip French and German stocks respectively during Q1 2009.
In the week ending 3 April, technology vendor Fidessa’s fragmentation index put Chi-X’s share of overall European share trading activity at 10.94%. Compiled from order book trades only, Fidessa’s index puts Chi-X’s average share of trading in UK stocks over the past three months at 14.93%. The platform traded 12.24% of French CAC40 stocks in Q1 2009 and 11.43% of German blue-chip stocks, according to Fidessa.
In Q1 2009, Chi-X Europe added SBF 120 stocks (French mid-cap) to its list of available indices and expanded coverage in the Spanish market to include all of the IBEX 35 component stocks.
“Despite the decline in trading volumes in the European marketplace as a whole following the extraordinary level of volatility in October 2008, we are pleased to have resumed a month-on-month pattern of increased trades, volume and value traded,” said Mark Howarth, Interim CEO, who recently replaced launch CEO Peter Randall.