The total value of equities traded on the London Stock Exchange during December 2004 was £382.5 billion, an increase of 26 per cent on December 2003. During the month there were 5.75 million trades, an increase of 29 per cent on the same month in 2003.

December’s trading represented a strong finish to 2004. During the year, the total value of equities traded on the Exchange was £4.7 trillion, a 30 per cent increase on the value traded in 2003. The average daily value traded in 2004 was £18.6 billion, an increase of 29 per cent on the average daily value traded the previous year. There were 66.30 million trades on the Exchange during 2004, an 18 per cent increase on the number of trades in 2003. The average daily number of trades across the Exchange in 2004 was up 18 per cent on 2003 to 261,011.

SETS saw an average of 167,158 trades each day during December 2004, amounting to 3.51 million trades during the month with a total value of £64.7 billion. This was an increase of 22 per cent in the value traded and 31 per cent in the number of trades on SETS compared with December 2003. The total value of equities traded on SETS in 2004 was £878.6 billion, an increase of 23 per cent on the value traded on SETS the previous year. The average daily number of trades on SETS throughout 2004 was 160,901, up 24 per cent on the previous year.

On SETSmm there were 334,738 order book trades during December, worth a total of £3.5 billion. This brought the total number of order book trades on SETSmm during the year to 3.38 million, and the total value traded to £37.8 billion.

During 2004 there were 49,202 trades on the covered warrants market, worth a total of £443.33 million. This was a 74 per cent increase on the value traded in covered warrants during 2003. The total number of ETF trades in the year as a whole rose 66 per cent to 104,412 whilst the value traded in ETFs during 2004 rose to £4.6 billion, an increase of 37 per cent on the value traded in 2003.

During December there were 7 IPOs on the London Stock Exchange’s main market, raising £724.93 million between them and 41 IPOs on AIM, raising £379.01 million. Over the course of the year there were 293 IPOs, of which 50 were on the main market and 243 were on AIM. IPOs on the main market raised a total of £4.8 billion between them, while AIM IPOs raised £2.4 billion.

By the end of 2004 there were 2,837 companies on the London Stock Exchange. Of these 1,816 companies were on the Main Market, including 351 international companies and 1,021 were on AIM, including 116 international companies.

There were 21 trading days in December 2004, the same number as in December 2003. There were 254 trading days in the year as a whole, compared with 253 in 2003.

For further information, please contact:

Notes to editors:

• About the London Stock Exchange:

  The London Stock Exchange is one of the world’s foremost 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 2004, the market capitalisation of UK and international companies on the London Stock Exchange’s markets amounted to £3.5 trillion, with £4.7 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 seven 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

  An IPO or Initial Public Offering is when a new company joins our market and raises capital by issuing shares. This excludes transfers and introductions (when companies join the market without raising money).

• SETSmm

  SETSmm is the Exchange’s successful 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 –
  www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/products/membershiptrading/retailtradestat
  Figures are available from November 2002 to date.

  LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE MONTHLY FACTSHEET FIGURES
  
  
  December 2004

  	2004			2003
  DOMESTIC EQUITY TRADING	Month	Year to date		Month	Year to date
  Equity Trading Value (£m)	171,717	2,316,194		147,396	1,876,922
  Number of Equity Trades	4,391,055	53,907,459		3,661,571	46,160,508
  INTERNATIONAL EQUITY TRADING
  Equity Trading Value (£m)	210,806	2,403,406		156,923	1,759,120
  Number of Equity Trades	1,360,791	12,389,392		804,743	9,949,410

  ORDER BOOK TRADING
  Order Book Value (£m)	64,737	878,633		53,159	715,169
  Order Book Trades	3,510,327	40,868,892		2,671,712	32,897,427

  	December 2004	December 2003
  DOMESTIC MARKET CAPITALISATION (£bn)	1,493	1,374
  TOTAL NUMBER OF COMPANIES	2,837	2,692
  UK list	1,465	1,557
  Foreign	351	381
  AIM	1,021	754
  of which techMARK	168	178

  	2004		2003
  MONEY RAISED (£m)	Month	Year to date	Month	Year to date
  UK & AIM New Issues Equity	629	6,171	1,206	3,487
  Further, Rights and Other	612	9,852	725	5,892
  Bonds, Warrants, Fixed Interest	9,552	128,372	6,958	118,837
  Int. New Issues Equity	593	1,364	-	1,134
  Further, Rights and Other	103	307	2,687	7,879
  Bonds, Warrants, Fixed Interest	5,611	90,180	6,394	94,650
  COMPANIES ADMITTED	63	423	42	201

  Back to the main press releases branch