TRADING ROBUST IN FEBRUARY

Trading on the London Stock Exchange was robust in February 2004 with year on year increases across its markets.

The value traded on SETS, the Exchange’s electronic order book, during February 2004 was £76.3 billion. This was the highest amount ever traded on SETS in a single month and represented a 45 per cent increase from the £52.7 billion traded in February last year. There were 3.12 million trades on SETS in February 2004 - up 20 per cent on February 2003. Included in these figures were 206,875 SETSmm trades worth £2.8 billion. The average daily number of trades on SETS rose to 156,032 from 129,598.

There were 4.44 million UK equity trades on the Exchange in February 2004, an increase of 29 per cent on the total of 3.44 million equity trades in February 2003. The total value of UK shares traded this year was £210.6 billion, up from £124.8 billion in February 2003.

Trading in covered warrants and ETFs also showed year on year gains. In February 2004, there were 8,032 ETF and 4,654 covered warrant trades compared to last February’s totals of 4,972 and 1,472 trades respectively.

The number of trades on EDX London increased again in February 2004, with 3.1 million contracts traded. This was 44 per cent up on the previous high in January 2004.

On the primary market, there were 11 new issues in February raising £61.59 million between them. Two of these were on the Main Market (one of which was an IPO) and nine on AIM (four of which were IPOs). This compares with four new issues (one on the Main Market and three on AIM) in February 2003.

There were 20 business days in February 2004, which was the same number as in February 2003.

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Notes to editors:

• About the London Stock Exchange:

  The London Stock Exchange is one of the world’s leading equity exchanges and a leading provider of services that facilitate the raising of capital and the trading of shares.

  The London Stock Exchange is the most international equities exchange by trading in the world and Europe's largest pool of liquidity. By the end of 2003, the market capitalisation of UK and international companies on its markets amounted to £3.3 trillion, with £3.6 trillion of equity business transacted over the year.

  The London Stock Exchange is a Recognised Investment Exchange (RIE) under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and is supervised by the Financial Services Authority.




• SETS – the electronic order book.

  It is over six years since the launch of SETS and the service continues to go from strength to strength. Overall, the market is benefiting from tighter spreads and greater liquidity. Usage of SETS continues to grow, as shown by recent record increases in the number of orders entered, the number of firms using the order book and order book share of business.

  Indices are calculated and managed by FTSE Group, a world-leader in the creation and management of global equity indices. The FTSE Group is jointly owned by the London Stock Exchange and the Financial Times, but operates as a wholly autonomous company.

  For information about the company or any FTSE indices, please contact media@ftse.com

  IPO - when a new company joins our market raising money. This excludes transfers and introductions (a company that joins a market without raising money).

• SETSmm

  SETSmm is the Exchange’s new trading service for FTSE 250 and other leading non order book securities. By combining the best features of the existing SETS and SEAQ trading services, SETSmm appeals to market users who want to trade electronically, as well as those customers who use the market making system.

• Retail Trading Figures

  Retail trading figures are available from our website at - http://www.londonstockexchange.com/trading/retailtrade.asp
  Figures are available from November 2002 to date.

LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE
MONTHLY FACTSHEET FIGURES

	February 2004
		2004		2003
	DOMESTIC EQUITY TRADING	Month	Year to date	Month	Year to date
	Equity Trading Value (£m)	210,638	420,387	124,833	273,545
	Number of Equity Trades	4,439,050	9,202,769	3,435,325	7,342,542
	INTERNATIONAL EQUITY TRADING
	Equity Trading Value (£m)	179,857	390,102	117,342	294,488
	Number of Equity Trades	882,496	1,850,578	778,787	1,935,236
	ORDER BOOK TRADING
	Order Book Value (£m)	76,303	151,734	52,707	114,854
	Order Book Trades	3,120,646	6,491,586	2,591,959	5,469,682
		February 2004		February 2003
	DOMESTIC MARKET CAPITALISATION (£bn)		1,402		1,076
	TOTAL NUMBER OF COMPANIES		2,673		2,804
	UK list	1,539		1,689
	Foreign	373		412
	AIM	761		703
	of which techMARK	176		207
		2004		2003
	MONEY RAISED (£m)	Month	Year to date	Month	Year to date
	UK & AIM New Issues Equity	62	146	0	26
	Further, Rights and Other	246	1,234	242	411
	Bonds, Warrants, Fixed Interest	4,441	21,050	4,809	10,489
	Int. New Issues Equity	-	-	-	-
	Further, Rights and Other	-	91	77	77
	Bonds, Warrants, Fixed Interest	7,948	16,533	8,816	17,880
	COMPANIES ADMITTED	11	22	4	18

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