The inclusion of Austrian, Danish, Norwegian and Portuguese equities on 16 May 2005, brings the number of European countries covered by POSIT to 15.

With the addition of some 640 stocks traded on the Vienna, Copenhagen, Oslo and Lisbon stock exchanges, the POSIT universe now comprises approximately 9,000 stocks. The inclusion of Denmark and Norway completes ITG's coverage of the Scandinavian region and those remaining areas of Europe where client demand has been highest. The European expansion of POSIT comes shortly after ITG Europe's parent, Investment Technology Group Inc., announced plans to open an office in Japan and follows the acquisition of London-based crossing system E-Crossnet earlier in the year.

POSIT is the world's largest intraday equities crossing system. It matches buy and sell orders at predetermined times in the day and is designed for use by institutional investors, both fund managers and broker dealers. POSIT reduces transaction costs by using midpoint pricing and virtually eliminating market impact by its anonymity. ITG has been crossing equities in Europe since 1998 and currently runs eight matches a day.

Commenting, Alasdair Haynes, CEO of ITG Europe, said: "We have always been sensitive to our clients' needs and today's announcement is in direct response to calls to expand POSIT's geographic scope so that they can access our substantial pool of liquidity without causing market impact. Liquidity is the key issue in markets today. Whether you are trading large blocks or complex portfolios POSIT should be your first port of call."