The number of exchanges and contracts on equity securities managed by Borsa Italiana spa and by Euro TLX increased slightly in the first half of the year, against a decrease in their value, while ETFs continue to grow. This was announced by Assosim, presenting the data relating to the volume of trade, the level of fragmentation of which has been contained.
Borsa Italiana managed to maintain 80% of the transfers of hands on the European markets. The total value of trades on the stock market decreased by 3% compared to the first six months of 2010. 407 billion euros were traded. The number of traded contracts instead grew by 3,4%, with over 34 million transactions. As a result, there was a decrease in the average value of the contracts (from 12 euros in 3 to 2010), the greater number of trades was not accompanied by a recovery in the value of the securities. Exchanges mainly involved the main stocks, investments were oriented in 11,5% of cases on the Ftse Mib indices, for a value equal to 74,2% of the total. Moderate growth for the retail segment, driven by the main intermediaries specialized in online trading. The operations of foreign intermediaries are down. As regards the performance of stock indexes: the historic Ftse Italia Mib had a drop of 92% with volatility down from 1,21% to 25%. Ftse Mib had extremely slight growth, volatility went from 17% to 29,6%.
The positive trend of the ETF plus market continues. Since the beginning of the year, more than 43 billion in value have been traded, a growth trend of 5% compared to 2010, for over 1,8 million contracts (+3,74 compared to 2010). “ETFs are confirmed as an increasingly attractive market due to their flexibility which allows you to plan investments by diversifying risks and identifying the most suitable strategy for your profile” explained Michele Calzolari, president of Assosim.
The Idem market is growing slightly, driven by trading on index futures and stock options which take advantage of a volatility, albeit slightly decreasing, which is still significant. The MOT saw a sharp reduction in the trading volume with an average value of contracts falling from 64,6 euros to 50,2 euros. The increase in interest rates in the first half of the year (one-month Euribor, Spread Btp-Bund) had an influence.
A similar trend affected the market managed by Euro TLX. Noteworthy are the trends in the countervalues of financial bonds (+76%) and Cert-X (+254%). All other asset classes are down, including corporate bonds and government bonds (-32% and - 26%). The number of financial instruments traded in Euro TLX is on the rise. The Bond Market Performance Index in the first half of 2011 was 78,3%.
From the rankings of volumes traded on behalf of third parties within Borsa Italiana spa, Finecobank is in first place in four markets (including MTA and Index Futures). Banca IMI is the leader in terms of Bots and ETFs. As regards the markets managed by Euro Tlx: Banca imi in a dominant position with 27,47%, followed by Unicredit with 26,96% and Banca Akros with 16,51%. (a.ro.)
