UK stock exchange PLUS Markets has introduced liquid European stocks to its new trading platform, bringing the number of securities accessible on the platform to 7,500. This figure includes 7,200 liquid European stocks as defined by CESR, including 1,200 UK main market stocks, and almost 300 PLUS Quoted and AIM shares.
PLUS’s new trading platform, provided by OMX, went live on November 5 2007. Trading activity on PLUS increased by 220% in November from October to 206,442 bargains, which were worth £1.6 billion. Trading value was up 300% compared with October 2007.
Investment firms can now trade all London-listed shares via the PLUS platform, including the FTSE 100. Banking stocks were the most heavily-traded on PLUS in November, including Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Northern Rock. In Northern Rock, trading on PLUS reached a daily peak of 34% of all on-exchange trades taking place in the UK.
During November, one-quarter of all daily UK retail trading activity took place on PLUS. The company notes that trading activity has continued to rise since month-end, hitting a daily peak of 15,428 trades in December. PLUS says it continues to attract one-third of trades in those AIM stocks dual-trading on its market, and over 40% of trades in constituents of the FTSE Fledgling index.