While the key benchmark equity indices, Sensex and Nifty, have regained momentum and are trading at their yearly highs, the volumes have declined. Volumes in cash and derivatives segments declined 14 per cent and 6.3 per cent, respectively, on a month-on-month basis in August 2009, according to a study by domestic research house IDFC-SSKI.
The trading volume in the cash segment stood at $100 billion while in the futures and option (F&O) segment, the volume was $304 billion. On a month-on-month basis, the overall volumes (cash & derivatives combined) declined 8 per cent in August.
“Trading volumes had gone down last month as markets were indecisive. However, it has been noticed that volumes in September have stabilised and there will not be any significant decline,” said Nikhil Vora, senior analyst at IDFC-SSKI.
On a year-on-year basis, the volumes have risen 52 per cent to $404 billion compared with the August 2008 levels. Last year in August, the Sensex was hovering between 14,000 and 14,700 levels while in August 2009, it was trading around 16,000.
The market share of two top equity exchanges, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE), stood at 25 per cent and 75 per cent, respectively.
However, the average daily turnover on NSE rose 1 per cent to around $18 billion.
The domestic markets will see increased participation from next month as the Delhi Stock Exchange, in which the Financial Technologies group holds 5 per cent, will commence trading on its platform. The exchange has 2,800 listed companies and around 150 registered brokers.
Apart from this, the Madras Stock Exchange (MSE) signed a memorandum of association with NSE last month that would allow its members to trade on NSE. MSE has 1,350 members.
