The Irish Stock Exchange has published its Statistical Review of 2009.
- Second highest volume of trading recorded in Exchange’s history but equity turnover down 52%
- Continued strong activity in Irish Government bond markets
- All ISEQ equity indices show growth year on year
- Trading membership continues to expand
- Exchange further enhances its market infrastructure for customers
Second highest volume of trading recorded in Exchange’s history but equity turnover down 52%
The 2009 statistical review shows that trading volumes in equities quoted on the Exchange [2.3 million] and the daily average number of trades [9,051] represented the second highest level of executions in the Exchange’s history – second only to the performance in 2008 [c. 2.5 million and 9,941 respectively].
While market capitalisation of equities admitted to trading on the Exchange rose by 38% during 2009, turnover in equities fell by 52% to €3.4 billion [2008: €12.2 billion]. This reflects the downturn in equity markets experienced in the latter half of 2008 and early 2009.
Continued strong activity on Irish Government bond markets
Strong activity in Irish Government Bonds and Treasury Bills continued into the last quarter of the year. The turnover in Irish Government Bonds and Treasury Bills was more than triple the figure recorded in 2008 [€84 billion compared to €0 billion in 2008]. This demonstrates, inter alia, the international interest in Irish Government securities. The market capitalisation of Irish Government debt also increased over the year, showing a rise of 69% to €1.8 billion.
Over € billion raised by companies trading on the Exchange
Funds raised by companies trading on the Exchange amounted to €.106 billion during the year. This was a significant increase on the low level of monies raised on the Exchange’s equity markets during 2008 [€55 million]. The most significant fund raisings in the Irish market were CRH, €.278 billion in March and Elan, €21 million in September.
All equity indices show growth year on year
The review highlights that all ISEQ equity indices showed double digit growth in 2009, with the overall index of stocks quoted on the Exchange rising by 27% during the year.
Smaller growth companies in particular performed strongly with the IEX Index, launched in June, growing by 64% and the Small Cap Index increasing by 88% year on year.
The specialist indices [the leveraged and capped indices] also launched during the year, both grew by 49%. The performance of the ISEQ Bond indices showed a range of returns from the 10 year plus index, which was down 2.8% year on year, to the under 3 year bond index, which rose 2.18% over 2009.
Trading membership continues to expand
A number of new internationally based member firms joined the Exchange in 2009, increasing the total number of member firms trading on the ISE to 37.
JP Morgan joined in June as a Primary Dealer in Irish Government Bonds and UBS Limited, an active participant of the ISE’s equity markets since 2007, expanded its activities on the ISE, to become a Primary Dealer in December.
Société Générale S.A. and Nomura International plc were admitted in August and October respectively, both becoming Primary Dealers and trading participants on the Exchange’s electronic trading platform for equities and ETFs, ISE Xetra®.
International specialist markets remain challenged
The global credit crisis continued to have an impact on the Exchange’s specialist markets for funds and debt securities in 2009. While new fund and sub fund listings showed some signs of recovery in the last quarter, the yearly figure of 298 [2008: 429] was affected by the challenging market conditions.
New debt tranches listed during the year amounted to 3,512 [2008: 4,381] bringing the total level of debt listings to 24,332 at year end.
Exchange further enhances its market infrastructure for customers
The Exchange continued to enhance its technology offering to customers and it made significant capital investments in market infrastructure during 2009. The ISE Xetra® trading platform was further enhanced to meet the future needs of market participants. This was completed in September and the benefits to the market include: increased speed, greater flexibility in relation to trading calendar, the ability to admit a wider range of securities to ISE Xetra® and the provision of trading in additional currencies, such as Dollar and Sterling, on the ISE. Other technical benefits include even higher speed of access to market data.
In July, the Exchange launched Ex-Stream, its proprietary second-generation e-listing platform which supports the international listings business. This leading edge technology, streamlines a number of services the ISE provides to the market, including the approval of applications for fund and debt listing and the management of company announcements. Ex-Stream’s centralised data management also provides the ISE with a platform for future business development, enabling the delivery of additional services to issuers, member firms and investors.
Comment from Chief Executive
Commenting on the 2009 results and the outlook for 2010, Deirdre Somers, Chief Executive of the Irish Stock Exchange said that "given the challenging conditions in financial markets during 2009, the Exchange concentrated on further enhancement and development of its market infrastructure, thereby laying the foundations for future growth. While the global financial situation had a particular impact on the Exchange’s international listing business, it is encouraging to see growth in membership and some return of investor confidence to the Irish equity market, demonstrated by the overall increase in market capitalisation of companies quoted on the Exchange from the low recorded at the end of 2008."