Trading volumes in Europe picked up slightly in July, primarily driven by an increase in activity on multilateral trading facilities (MTFs), which grew by over €24 billion month-on-month.
Overall trading reached €828.65 billion in July, up almost €30 billion from June's total of €799.29 billion, but still much lower than the €1.005 trillion year-high recorded in March, according to data from Thomson Reuters Equity Market Share Reporter.
Of the €828.65 billion traded, €243.7 billion, or 29.4%, was traded by MTFs BATS Europe, Chi-X Europe, Burgundy, NYSE Arca Europe, Quote MTF, Turquoise and Xetra International Market, up from €219.39 billion in March.
Turquoise, which is majority-owned by the London Stock Exchange (LSE), continued the steady growth it has enjoyed this year, trading €46 billion in July, up from €38 billion in June and €30 billion in January. For the first time since November 2009, Turquoise surpassed BATS Europe in terms of trading turnover, making it the second largest pan-European equity trading venue behind Chi-X Europe.
BATS Europe's parent company, Kansas-based market operator BATS Global Markets, is currently awaiting the green light from the UK's Competition Commission to purchase Chi-X Europe, which traded €150.1 billion in July.
Trading activity was more modest on domestic markets. NYSE Euronext, which operates stock exchanges in Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris, saw combined turnover rise by just under €3 billion month-on-month, trading €134.4 billion in July, while Deutsche Börse traded €112 billion in July, up from €105 billion in June. The LSE experienced a decline in trading turnover to €82.7 billion in July, from €93.2 billion in June.
Trading on dark MTFs also increased last month, accounting for €22.2 billion – or 2.6% of overall trading activity – in July, from €21 billion the previous month. Broker-owned MTFs operated by Nomura (NX), UBS (UBS MTF) and Goldman Sachs (Sigma X MTF) traded a total of €3.9 billion, with UBS MTF more than doubling its value traded to €1.24 billion in July, from €538 million in June.