Press releases 2006

7 April 2006

VALUE TRADED ON SETS RISES 69 PER CENT IN MARCH

March 2006 was another record month for SETS, with value traded up 69 per cent on March 2005 to £141 billion. The total number of trades during the month reached a record 6.7 million, a 53 per cent increase on the same month last year.

The average daily value traded on SETS was also a record at £6.1 billion, up 54 per cent on the same month last year. The average daily number of trades increased 40 per cent on March 2005 to 289,379, an increase of nine per cent on the previous record set only last month.

March was also a record month for trading in SETSmm securities. The average daily number of trades on SETSmm more than doubled, up 145 per cent on March 2005 to 56,164, while the average daily value traded increased 98 per cent to £459.4 million.

Accelerating SETS growth was the major feature of the new total trading records. Across the Exchange's markets the average daily number of trades was up 34 per cent on March 2005 to 433,212, and the average daily value traded was up 39 per cent to £29.1 billion. The total number of trades across the Exchange during the month reached 10.0 million, and the total value traded amounted to £668.8 billion.

Trading in ETFs continued to grow very strongly, up 137 per cent on the average daily number of trades in March 2005 to 1,164. The total value traded during the month was £1.5 billion, and the average daily value traded increased 104 per cent on March 2005 to £64.2 million. The average daily number of covered warrants trades during the month was up 75 per cent on March last year, and the average daily value traded was up 205 per cent to £2.2 million.

On the primary market, there were total of 56 IPOs, raising a total of £2.9 billion between them. This figure included eleven IPOs on the Main Market, raising £839 million, 44 IPOs on AIM, raising £1.6 billion, and one IPO on the new Professional Securities Market which raised £424 million.

RNS, the Exchange's service for the dissemination of company news, transmitted a record 16,582 announcements during the month, an increase of 32 per cent on March 2005. This included 5,901 news and results announcements, representing an 87 per cent share of all company news and results announcements made in the UK.

There were 23 trading days during March 2006, two more than in March 2005.

For further information, please contact:

Catherine Mattison Press Office +44 (0)20 7797 1222 newsroom@londonstockexchange.com