Turquoise market share bolstered in strong March trading

European trading activity climbed in March, signalling the strong recovery seen at the beginning of the year is set to continue.

European trading activity climbed in March, signalling the strong recovery seen at the beginning of the year is set to continue.

Total market turnover for the month was €902.6 billion, the highest March figure since 2011, according to Thomson Reuters Equity Market Share Reporter.

Trading volumes were just short of the €907 billion seen in January and 11.2% higher than the €811.5 billion of market turnover seen in the short trading month of February.

Europe’s biggest exchange operator by volume, BATS Chi-X Europe, saw its market share fall for the third consecutive month, dropping from a total of 20.97% in February to 19.66% in March.

London Stock Exchange’s market share fell back slightly, with its main London market falling from 13.29% in February to 11.98% last month, putting it marginally behind Deutsche Börse’s Xetra trading platforms on 12.11%.

However, London Stock Exchange Group’s Turquoise and Borsa Italiana exchanges saw strong gains. Pan-European multilateral trading facility (MTFs) Turquoise grew its share of the European market from 7.86% to 8.81% between February and March, while Borsa Italiana’s market share increased from 6.79% to 8.56% over the same period.

Dark trading activity on MTFs was also on the up, though it saw a less marked increase compared to the broader equity market. Between February and March, dark MTF trading grew 5.6% to €52.47 billion, representing 5.8% of on-exchange equity trading.

Turquoise again posted significant gains in the dark. Its share of dark order book trading was 11.15% in March, up from 9.78% in the previous month. After a strong February, ITG-owned POSIT’s market share fell back from 13.65% to 12.91%.

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