The World Federation of Exchanges Publishes 2011 Market Highlights

January 19, 2012

Equity volumes in 2011 remained stable despite a fall in market capitalization, while derivatives, bonds, ETFs, and securitized derivatives continued to grow strongly, according to figures released today by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).

WFE statistics are culled from WFE member exchanges, which continued to increase their listings and diversify their product offerings in 2011. Specific 2011 highlights from WFE are as follows:

Equity Markets

A 13.6% decrease brings global equity market capitalization to roughly the same level ($US 47 trillion) as it stood at the end of 2009.Almost all WFE members were affected by the decline, as only four exchange ended 2011 at a higher level. The magnitude of the decline was similar among the three time zones in dollar terms: -15.9% in the Asia-Pacific, -15.2% in EAME, and -10.8% in the Americas.

Despite the market capitalization decline, Electronic Order Book (EOB) turnover value remained stable at $US 63,080 billion (-0.1%).This figure was heavily influenced by the two largest exchanges by turnover value (NYSE Euronext (US) and NASDAQ OMX US), which represented almost 50% of the total EOB value of share trading.

The number of listings among WFE members increased slightly to 45,953 (+1.7%), in spite of an overall unfavorable macroeconomic environment for primary markets in several regions.The number of EOB trades totaled 112 billion, down 6.4% from the previous year, while the average transaction size was $US 8,700, up 1.8% from the previous year.The latter figure is not surprising given a stable value of share trading and a declining number of trades.

Derivatives

The number of on-exchange futures and options contracts traded in 2011 increased by 8.9% to 18.5 billion. Increased trading in stock index options and futures and ETF options led the gains, as high volatility and uncertainty over the sovereign debt crisis continued to increase risk management needs.

Bonds, ETFs and Securitized Derivatives

Bond trading on exchanges increased sharply in 2011, up 35.5% to $US 32.5 trillion, reflecting the growing interest for fixed-income products as well as the security and transparency of the exchange offer.

The 2011 ETF turnover value was $US 10.3 trillion (+7.5%) and the number of listings totaled 6,909 (+24%).The Americas region still dominated this segment (87% of the total volumes), but the two other regions were continuing to catch up with higher growth rates.

Securitized derivatives grew by 51% to 1.1 million, mostly due to a surge in listings in the EAME region where turnover value was also significantly up (+23%).Overall volumes are nearly stable (+2%, $US 1.1 trillion), as the Asia-Pacific region still dominates volume figures (77% of overall total).

Click here for the full report. 

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