European equity volumes surge to best January since crisis

European equity market volumes grew by 50% between January and December, the best start to the year seen since prior to the financial crisis in 2008.

European equity market volumes grew by 50% between January and December, the best start to the year seen since prior to the financial crisis in 2008.

Total trading across European markets reached €907.5 billion last month, according to the Thomson Reuters Equity Market Share Reporter, up from €606.6 billion in December 2013 and 28% higher than the €706.6 billion seen in January last year.

The last time January volumes exceeded this was in January 2008, just nine months before the downfall of Lehman Brothers and the ensuing global recession. However, volumes are still well short of the €1.4 trillion seen at the equity markets’ peak.

BATS Chi-X Europe increased its market share from 20.48% in December, with turnover of €191.45 billion across both dark and lit markets representing market share of 21.1%.

London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG) London market saw a slight loss of market share, down from 11.57% in December to 11.37% in January. LSEG’s Turquoise multilateral trading facility (MTF) also saw a slight dip in market share from 7.64% to 7.5% over the same period. However, its Italian market saw particularly strong trading volumes, pushing its market share from 6.36% to 7.52%.

Dark trading on MTFs reached €56.77 billion, accounting for 6.25% of total equity volume. This was an increase from €36.36 billion and 5.9% respectively in December.

UBS MTF continued to lead dark trading among MTFs, with market share of 21.77% and trading turnover totaling €12.3 billion.

Goldman Sachs’ SIGMA X MTF had a particularly good month, growing its market share from 9.33% in December to 10.22% last month. Total trading in January on the platform reached €5.8 billion.

Strong trading activity seen across Europe supports the bullish expectations of theTRADEnews.com readers, 64% of which predicted that equity market volume would continue to grow in 2014.

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