Press releases 2007

9 March 2007

SETS TRADING HITS NEW RECORDS WITH 55 PER CENT GROWTH

Trading on SETS, the London Stock Exchange’s order book, reached record levels during February 2007. The average daily number of trades on SETS increased 55 per cent on February 2006 to a record 413,506, while the average daily value traded was up 28 per cent to £7.46 billion. The total number of SETS trades during the month was 8.3 million and the total value traded was £149.1 billion.

On 28 February 2007, there were over 732,000 trades on SETS, a new high for a single trading day.

Included in the SETS figures for February, SETSmm had an excellent month. The total number of trades more than doubled compared with the same month last year, up 103 per cent to 2.0 million, while the total value traded increased 83 per cent on the same month last year to a record £14.7 billion.

Also included in the SETS figures, the Exchange's International Order Book (IOB) had a very strong month with the total number of trades up 72 per cent to 74,418, while the total value traded increased 37 per cent to £6.0 billion.

Meanwhile, trading in UK equities also reached record levels during February. The average daily number of trades increased 45 per cent to 466,074, and the average daily value traded increased 19 per cent to £15.8 billion.

ETF trading was also noteworthy, with the total number of trades up 68 per cent to 33,658, while the value traded increased 83 per cent to £2.3 billion. There were 5,889 trades in covered warrants and structured products during February, and the total value traded in these products increased 99 per cent to £57.0 million.

EDX London, the London Stock Exchange’s derivatives business, had a very good month. Trading in its Russian IOB derivatives service continued to build on an impressive start, with the average daily number of contracts traded reaching 4,156 contracts, nearly double the 2,119 contracts traded during January. The total value traded on the service now amounts to over $1 billion since launch.

On the primary market, the Exchange attracted five IPOs - including two from Russia - to the international Main Market, raising £1.1 billion between them. AIM attracted IPOs from 13 companies - including two from Canada - raising a combined total of £548.6 million.

RNS, the Exchange's service for the dissemination of company news, transmitted a total of 15,106 company announcements during February, a 15 per cent increase on February last year. Of these 4,696 were news and results announcements, representing 86 per cent of all company news and results announcements issued in the UK.

There were 20 trading days in February 2007, the same as in February 2006.

For further information, please contact:

Richard Webster-Smith Press Office +44 (0) 7797 1222 newsroom@londonstockexchange.com