Seasonal variations saw European equity trading volumes plummet to their lowest level in 24 months in December 2011. But trading surpassed the €10 trillion mark annually for the first time since the onset of the financial crisis at the end of 2008.
According to data from Thomson Reuters Equity Market Share Reporter, European value traded in December 2011 reached €586.4 billion – down from €774.4 billion in November 2011 and the lowest since December 2009’s total of €550.1 billion.
However, overall volumes for 2011 hit €10.091 trillion, higher than 2010’s total of €9.43 trillion and the €7.55 trillion recorded throughout 2009.
While trading on displayed multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) excluding dark volumes was higher in 2011 – reaching €2.73 trillion compared to €2.92 trillion in 2010 – their proportion of overall turnover declined from 30.9% to 27% year-on-year.
Despite a price promotion designed to combat the seasonal slump in trading activity, trading at the London Stock Exchange dropped from €88 billion in November to €65.8 billion in December, according to the Thomson Reuters figures.
Similar monthly declines were also experienced at Deutsche Börse (€106 billion in November compared to €82.3 billion in December) and at NYSE Euronext’s markets in Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris (€118.8 billion in November, dropping to €88.08 billion in December).
Month-on-month drops were less steep in Sweden, where value of equity trading fell €6 billion to €25 billion in December, and in Spain, where trading fell from €39 billion in November to €32 billion in December.
The value of trades executed in dark multilateral trading facilities also continued to rise in 2011, growing almost 50% to €276.6 billion last year compared to €185.5 billion in 2010.
UBS MTF, the standalone dark pool launched by the Swiss bank in November 2010, ended the year as the largest dark MTF, garnering 22.45% of dark market share, ahead of Chi-X Europe’s Chi-Delta (20.12%), which had been the largest dark pool for the previous 11 months.