Trading on the London Stock Exchange continued to grow in April 2004 with year on year increases across its markets.

In April 2004, the average daily number of trades on SETS™, the Exchange’s electronic order book, rose to 155,018 from 124,450 in April 2003. The value traded on SETS during the month was £69.4 billion representing a 31 per cent increase from £52.8 billion traded in April last year. There were 3.1 million trades on SETS – up 25 per cent on April 2003 – including 229,533 SETSmm trades worth £2.64 billion.

There were 4.24 million UK equity trades in the month, an increase of 22 per cent on the total of 3.49 million equity trades in April 2003. The total value of UK shares traded during the month was £178.8 billion, up 34 per cent from £133.7 billion on the corresponding period last year.

Trading in covered warrants and ETFs also showed gains with 8,891 ETF and 3,877 covered warrant trades compared to last April’s totals of 4,558 and 1,884 trades respectively.

Following 24 new admissions during the month, the number of AIM companies rose above 800 for the first time. At the end of April 2004, there were 809 AIM companies with a combined market capitalisation of £21.9 billion. This was up from 705 companies with a combined market capitalisation of £10 billion at the end of April 2003.

The primary market saw 30 new issues in April raising £409.3 million between them. Six of these were on the Main Market (five of which were IPOs) and 24 were on AIM (17 of which were IPOs). This compares with 16 new issues (five on the Main Market and 11 on AIM) in April 2003.

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

For further information, please contact:

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.

	April 2004
		2004		2003
	DOMESTIC EQUITY TRADING	Month	Year to date	Month	Year to date
	Equity Trading Value (£m)	178,805	826,192	133,683	551,901
	Number of Equity Trades	4,243,690	18,546,640	3,488,392	14,710,575
	INTERNATIONAL EQUITY TRADING
	Equity Trading Value (£m)	208,187	824,352	122,404	545,844
	Number of Equity Trades	968,395	3,956,314	800,450	3,642,102
	ORDER BOOK TRADING
	Order Book Value (£m)	69,408	304,410	52,784	227,370
	Order Book Trades	3,100,363	13,226,082	2,489,005	10,823,918
		April 2004		April 2003
	DOMESTIC MARKET CAPITALISATION (£bn)		1,391		1,163
	TOTAL NUMBER OF COMPANIES		2,700		2,760
	UK list	1,521		1,649
	Foreign	370		406
	AIM	809		705
	of which techMARK	177		203
		2004		2003
	MONEY RAISED (£m)	Month	Year to date	Month	Year to date
	UK & AIM New Issues Equity	409	1,306	73	109
	Further, Rights and Other	274	2,633	83	710
	Bonds, Warrants, Fixed Interest	5,761	49,869	8,258	35,621
	Int. New Issues Equity	201	219	-	-
	Further, Rights and Other	3	111	3,783	3,908
	Bonds, Warrants, Fixed Interest	8,637	34,017	7,774	31,902
	COMPANIES ADMITTED	30	91	16	42

Back to the main press releases branch