Nasdaq (Nasaq:NDAQ), the second-largest Exchange in the world by market capitalization, has just released its monthly composite of trading volumes and metrics for the month ending March 2017 – the latest readings showed a rebound across the board for multiple segments, namely in the United States.
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The market atmosphere was noticeably different in March 2017, with markets not locked into a tight consolidation. An uptick of Volatility helped serve as an impetus for higher volumes, dictated in part by a highly anticipated rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.
In March 2017, Nasdaq pared all of last month’s volumes losses across its equity derivatives business. In light of heightened volatility, volumes in this segment were higher, as indicated by a figure of 136.0 million contracts.
This reading justified a gain of 13.3 percent month-over-month 120.0 million contracts in February 2017, striking a fresh two-year high. The latest measure also managed to beat its 2016 counterpart, surging 81.3 percent year-over-year from just 75.0 million contracts in March 2016.
The positive performance also extended to Nasdaq’s European business over the same month-over-month period, with its European equity derivatives also registering a healthy growth in March 2017. Nasdaq reported 8.1 million contracts in March 2017, compared to 6.6 million contracts in February 2017, or 22.7 percent higher month-over-month.
This rise was also secured over a year-over-year basis, reflecting a change of 2.5 percent from 7.9 million contracts in March 2017.
FICC Business Rises Sharply
Nasdaq’s March 2017’s figures were also higher across Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities business (FICC). As such, US fixed income volume (in billion USD traded) yielded $1,794 for the month ending March 2017. This figure rose by 15.0 percent month-over-month from $1,560 in February 2017, also marking a new high for the calendar year – the reading was unchanged year-over-year from March 2016.
In terms of European fixed income, March 2017’s readings were also slightly improved, showing a steady climb in its volumes month-over-month. March 2017 saw 2.8 million contracts, up 16.7 percent month-over-month from just 2.4 million contracts in February 2017 though up 27.2 percent year-over-year from March 2016.
