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FESE European Equity Market Report September 2011
October 12, 2011--FESE has published the ‘European Equity Market Report’ which gathers data from all the market segments operated by FESE members (including Regulated Markets and Multilateral Trading Facilities) as well as from the major MTFs operated by investment firms in the European market. The FESE Statistics Methodology used in the Report has been agreed by all the trading venues involved, both RM and MTFs.
view the European Equity Market Report - Year 2011 (updated with September figures)
Luxembourgish regulator approves Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext merger
October 12, 2011--The Luxembourg Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) has approved the merger of Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext. This represents an important supervisory milestone for the merger at Deutsche Börse Group’s important Luxembourg location.
The CSSF examination of the matter focuses on shareholder control and is comparable to the examination by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFin), which has already been successfully concluded, and to that of the shareholder control procedure by the stock exchange regulators. It deals with the admissibility of the acquisition of important shareholdings in Clearstream companies within Deutsche Börse Group in Luxembourg by the parent company of the new group (Holdco) domiciled in the Netherlands. These include Clearstream International S.A. and Clearstream Services S.A., as well as Clearstream Banking S.A. as an international settlement institution.
CSSF’s examination involved assessing the reliability of the Dutch Holdco and its financial solidity, as did BaFin’s. CSSF’s overall conclusion was that there are no banking supervisory reasons against the merger in Luxembourg either.
The transaction is subject to further closing conditions, such as approval by the responsible EU competition authorities and the responsible stock exchange supervisory authorities.
ETF Quarterly Statistics: 3rd quarter 2011
A record-breaking quarter: new report provides detailed figures on the growth of SIX Swiss Exchange's ETF segment.
October 12, 2011--Monthly turnover in SIX Swiss Exchange's ETF segment was distinctly above CHF 10'000 million twice in a row last quarter. The CHF 13'767.8 million achieved in August was in fact an all-time record and the CHF 12'332.74 million in September the second-best result ever. In comparing the quarterly figures of Q3 2011 to those of the same period last year, the results have more than doubled, with CHF 33'398.6 million compared to 14'946.7 million.
Commodities the most actively traded asset class
At product level we also saw a significant increase in turnover from the previous quarter. The ETF with the strongest turnover in Q3 2011 was the ZKB Gold ETF, which more than doubled its turnover compared to the previous quarter, amounting to CHF 1'761.2 million. Second was the CS ETF (CH) on the SMI and third the ZKB Gold ETF (USD), both of which had turnovers much higher than CHF 1 billion and recorded a growth of 137 % and even 214 % respectively.
ZKB ETFs was thus the best product provider in terms of turnover during the third quarter with 21.94 %, pushing CS ETF from the top spot (now second with 21.22 %), while UBS ETF gained a 13.31 % share of turnover in comparison to the previous quarter, putting it in third place.
National Institute Of Economic And Social Research Estimates Of U.K. Monthly GDP
October 11, 2011--Our monthly estimates of GDP suggest that output grew by 0.5 per cent in the three months ending in September after growth of 0.4 per cent in the three months ending in August. UK economic growth over the past year has been anaemic; the level of output is only 0.5 per cent higher than this time last year.
The level of GDP is still 4 per cent below its pre-recession peak, suggesting that this recovery will be the weakest of any since the end of the First World War.
NYSE Euronext Launches The CAC® International 25 Index
October 11, 2011--NYSE Euronext (NYX) today announced the launch of the CAC® International 25 Index to increase the visibility of global firms listed in Paris.
The CAC® International 25 Index reflects the performance of the 25 largest international companies* listed on NYSE Euronext in Paris based on total market capitalizations and local trading volumes. Index constituents are equally weighted.
This new index is calculated and published at the end of each trading day after the market closes. The CAC® International 25 Index will be revised annually in September and rebalanced four times a year in March, June, September, and December.
German trade surplus grows as exports rise
October 10, 2011--The German trade surplus grew in August as exports rose for the first time in three months, official data showed on Monday.
Europe's biggest economy exported goods worth a total 90.5 billion euros ($122 billion) in August, 3.5 percent more than in July, the national statistics office Destatis said.
Western Balkans hope to move slowly towards EU
October 10, 2011--When the European Commission announces its progress report Wednesday, Western Balkans countries hope for small steps forward as the realisation is dawning EU enlargement will be a very slow process.
As the economic crisis continues in Europe, support for EU integration has fallen in most Western Balkans countries, although the majority generally agrees there is no alternative.
Montenegro and Serbia should both get some good news with the commission expected to recommend candidacy status for Belgrade. For Podgorica, a candidate member since December 2010, it would be a date for the start of accession talks.
MiFID II proposal would restrict high-frequency trading
October 10, 2011--The final draft of the European Commission’s proposed revisions to MiFID will impose new restrictions on high-frequency trading (HFT), confirm a ban organised trading facilities from crossing against prop trading flow, and define new rules for access criteria between central counterparties (CCPs) and trading venues.
A draft of MiFID II dated 7 October, seen by theTRADEnews.com, includes a number of dramatic changes from the interim document that was widely leaked last month.
Among the most substantial additions is a new liquidity requirement that seeks to stem HFT by forcing market making algorithms to operate continually during market hours. According to the draft, “an algorithmic trading strategy shall be in continuous operation during trading hours of the trading venue to which it sends orders or through the systems of which it executes transactions. The trading parameters or limits of an algorithmic trading strategy shall ensure that the strategy posts firm quotes at competitive prices with the result of providing liquidity on a regular and ongoing basis to these trading venues at all times, regardless of prevailing market conditions.”
A world first: Structured products in the trading currency gold
October 10, 2011--Scoach Switzerland is the first exchange in the world to offer trading in gold structured products.
As of 10 October 2011, Scoach Switzerland will support trading in structured products with gold as the trading currency. The Swiss central depository, SIX Securities Services, is responsible for the processing.
The initial spark for innovation in the sector originates from EFG Financial Products, one of the most innovative issuers of exchange-traded structured products on Scoach Switzerland.
Many investors who are directly invested in gold do not physically hold the gold, but rather keep it in a precious metals account, which is nothing more than a foreign currency account denominated in gold. Gold in this case, with the international currency code XAU, is treated like any other foreign currency. Just as the Swiss franc is the unit of measure for the currency CHF, the currency XAU is expressed in fine ounces of gold, or fractions thereof. Balances in the currency XAU can be exchanged for physical gold at any time at the bank where the account is maintained.
Energy markets: Commission welcomes adoption of new rules on wholesale electricity and gas trading
October 10, 2011--The EU has adopted today new stringent rules on wholesale energy trading. The main objective is to prevent use of insider information and other forms of market abuse which distort wholesale energy prices and normally mean that businesses and consumers pay more for their energy than they need. The new law will enter into force by the end of this year. For the first time energy trading will be screened at EU level to uncover abuses. National authorities in Member States will put in place penalties to help stop and prevent market manipulation.
EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said: "Today is an important milestone in the development of the internal market. The new trading rules will contribute to fair energy prices. Moreover, by improving market transparency and integrity, we also build confidence of all market participants in the good functioning of the internal market. This will foster competition and ensure that consumers will always get the best deal."
Background
There are several hundreds of companies involved in wholesale electricity and gas trade in Europe and up to 10 000 transactions take place every day.
In energy, more than in other sectors, market prices are highly sensitive to the availability of production and transmission capacities. This is due to the fact that electricity cannot be stored on an industrial scale. For this reason prices can be influenced easily by creating a false impression about the availability of capacities or indeed by reducing actual production. Europe's wholesale energy markets are also increasingly cross-border in nature. Price setting occurs through the interaction of supply and demand across national boundaries. Besides, transactions are frequently concluded outside the country to which the trades relate. All of this creates ways of market abuse transcending national borders. As until now regulators in Member States have not had access to all the data on cross-border transactions, it has been difficult to understand what has been going on in these markets and effectively detect abuse.
