Stock trading on the up

Equity trading rose in August, data from the London Stock Exchange Group have indicated.

According to the organisation, the number of electronic trades made across its order books hit 785,000 over the month.

The typical daily value of these transactions hit £6.2 billion - 11 per cent up on the previous month, but 11 per cent down on the previous year.

In total, the value of equities traded during August was £127.2 billion.

Stock markets have been rising around the world since March, with the FTSE 100 increasing in value by almost 40 per cent over this period.

This in turn has encouraged more investors to return to riskier assets such as stocks and bonds.

With the credit crunch at its worst towards the end of last year, a ’flight to safety’ towards cash and even gold had been observed.

The London Stock Exchange Group also said in its new report that trading in Exchange Traded Funds and Exchange Traded Commodities remained relatively strong and had risen by 158 per cent year on year in August 2009.

In total, 12,154 of these trades were made.ADNFCR-2318-ID-19350676-ADNFCR