The year recorded 84 of the 100 busiest ever days on the London Stock Exchange, with the total number of trades in London alone exceeding 1 million on 23 occasions. Across the Group's equity order books the average daily number of trades grew 24 per cent to 1,038,327.

However, year on year falls of 16 and 31 per cent in the average value of the FTSE 100 and MIB indices impacted the value traded on the Group's equity order books. Total value traded across the year was £2.9 trillion (€3.6 trillion) in 2008, an 11 per cent decrease on 2007.

In December, the average daily value traded fell 49 per cent to £5.6 billion (€5.9 billion), while the average daily number of trades across the Group was 772,246, down 10 per cent on last year.

UK Order Book

In 2008, the total number of UK equity trades on the order book grew 39 per cent to 186.5 million, exceeding the total for the whole of 2007 by mid-September. The total value traded reached £1.9 trillion (€2.4 trillion); though down six per cent on 2007, this reflects a significant increase in the velocity of trading given the 16 per cent decline in the FTSE 100 during 2008.

The average daily number of trades on the UK order book during December was 556,218, down six per cent year on year, while the average daily value traded during the month was £3.8 billion (€4.0 billion), down 44 per cent on December 2007, reflecting a 34 per cent decline in the average value of the FTSE 100 between December 2007 and December 2008.

Italian Order Book

During the year as a whole, 65.9 million trades were carried out on the Italian equity order book, with a combined value of €993.7 billion (£784.7 billion).

In December, the average daily number of trades was 183,660, down by 24 per cent on December 2007. The 49 per cent decline in the average value of the MIB index between Deceen December 2007 and December 2r 2008 was reflected in a 67 per cent decrease in the average daily value traded, which was €1.5 billion (£1.5 billion).

International Order Book

Across the year the total number of trades on the Group's international order books was 11.1 million, up 35 per cent on 2007, while the value traded grew six per cent year on year to £199.9 billion (€252.9 billion).

The average daily number of trades in December grew 12 per cent to 32,368. Falls in global market valuations contributed to a 57 per cent drop in the average daily value traded to £319.4 million (€335.3 million).

ETFs and ETCs

Strong ETF and ETC trading continued during 2008, with the value traded reaching £65.8 billion (€82.2 billion), up 89 per cent on the 2007 total. The total number of ETF and ETC trades was 1.8 million, a 20 per cent year on year increase.

During the month the value traded in ETFs and ETCs was up 110 per cent on the previous December to £6.1 billion (€6.4 billion), while the number of trades grew 47 per cent to 150,273.

Derivatives

Year on year the number of contracts traded across the Group's derivatives markets grew 20 per cent to 91.9 million, while the notional value traded remained flat at £1.4 trillion (€1.8 trillion).

During December the average daily number of derivatives contracts traded across the Group was 293,939, down five per cent compared with December 2007, while the notional average daily value traded decreased by 29 per cent to £4.8 billion (€5.0 billion).