Press releases 2003

07 March 2003

Monthly Market Report for February 2003

Number of UK trades continue to rise in February

The total number of UK and international trades on the London Stock Exchange in February 2003 was 4.21 million, up six per cent from 3.96 million in February 2002.  This was despite a year on year decline in the number of international trades.

The total value of UK and international trades in February 2003 was £242.2 billion.  The average daily number of UK and international trades increased to 210,706 compared with 197,852 in February 2002. 

The total number of UK trades on the London Stock Exchange increased to 3.44 million in February 2003, up 26 per cent compared with 2.73 million in February 2002.  However, the value of shares traded decreased by 14 per cent to £124.8 billion, down from £145.5 billion in February 2002.

In February the number of trades on SETS™, the London Stock Exchange's electronic order book, increased to 2.59 million trades compared with 1.55 million in February 2002, an increase of 67 per cent.  The value traded on SETS increased by one per cent to £52.7 billion in 2003, from £52.4 billion in February 2002. 

The average daily number of trades on SETS was 129,598, up from 77,709 in February 2002.  SETS achieved a 66.2 per cent share of eligible trades by value in February 2003, compared with 60.4 per cent in February 2002.

On the primary market there were 4 new issues during February 2003, 1 of which was an IPO on AIM.  This compares with 9 IPOs in February 2002 – 3 on the Main Market and 6 on AIM.

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