2015 global equity trading volumes rise 55%: WFE

LONDON - Total value of share trading rose 41 percent in 2015 and the number of trades 55 percent from 2014, according to the full-year statistics from the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).

WFE Monday said the trade increases were driven predominantly by trading activity in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly Chinese mainland.

Despite the significant volatility witnessed through the year, Asia-Pacific markets still managed to end the year up 10 percent in terms of market capitalization compared to the end of 2014, said WFE.

The value of share trading rose 41 percent worldwide to $114 trillion in 2015 compared with $81 trillion in 2014. Most of the increase is attributable to the rise in trading activity in the Asia-Pacific region where the value of share trading rose 127 percent from that seen in 2014. The total value of Asia-Pacific share trading in 2015 approached $54 trillion, putting it ahead of other regions in terms of the total value of share trading, the report showed.

Total number of trades in 2015 increased 55 percent from 2014, ending the year at 23.7 billion (up from 15.3 billion in 2014). Again, Asia-Pacific was responsible for most of the increase. The region saw a 94 percent rise in the number of trades from 2014, from just over 8 billion to 15.5 billion trades in 2015.

"Last year saw sharp rises in global trading volumes," said Nandini Sukumar, CEO of WFE.

"Strong trading activity in Asia-Pacific drove the increases in the value and volume of global share trading, putting it ahead of every other region in terms of activity," Sukumar said.

The World Federation of Exchanges is the global industry association for exchanges and clearing houses. The WFE, headquartered in London, represents more than 66 regulated stock, futures and options exchanges and so on.