The Vienna Stock Exchange reported a lively spring season with a boost in both turnover and equity prices. Market makers and specialists have to keep additional liquidity for longer periods.
The first quarter of 2015 brought a very active securities market to Austria involving many price upswings. The average monthly trading volume to date in 2015 is EUR 5.04 billion which corresponds to a gain of 26.61% compared to the average monthly trading volume of 2014 (EUR 3.98 billion). At EUR 5.69 billion, the equity trading volume in March even exceeded the two previous very strong months and led to the strongest monthly equity turnover since August 2011.
The high trading volumes in the first quarter seem to be driven by the growing interest of international investors. Furthermore, the additional liquidity provided by the central banks also supports equity trading while the weakness of the euro affords a further advantage for exporting companies.
The uptrend began mid-January and the ATX rose by 16.19% YTD in Q1 reaching 2,509.82 points at the end of March.
Additional obligations for market makers
Market makers and specialists are now under the obligation to keep additional liquidity in the order book for longer periods. They must now quote for 80% of the trading day (previously only 65%). Moreover, several improvements to the electronic order book for stocks have been implemented having taken effect on 1 April. This leads to a significant narrowing of the spread between buy and sell orders which makes trading easier.
Contact:
Tina Fischer, Senior Relationship Manager Austria
tina.fischer@unicreditgroup.at