London: Daily spot trading volumes on currency trading platforms run by Thomson Reuters rebounded sharply in January from the previous month, according to figures published by the company late on Friday.
Compared with the same month a year earlier, however, volume was lower, cementing the view of many observers that the world’s largest financial market is in decline thanks to tighter bank regulation, a widespread slowdown in emerging markets and lighter global trade flows.
Spot currency trading volume on TR platforms totalled $123 billion (Dh451.65 billion) last month, up 35 per cent from $91 billion in December - traditionally the lightest month of the year - and the highest since March.
That was down 9 per cent, however, from the $135 billion recorded in January last year.
Total foreign exchange trading volume across TR platforms, including forwards, swaps, options and non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) rose 12 per cent on the month to $377 billion from $337 billion, but fell 5 per cent on the year from $398 billion.
Much of the trading in sterling and “dollar bloc” currencies like the Australian and Canadian dollars
goes through Thomson Reuters platforms while rival platform EBS, which is owned by the world’s largest inter-dealer broker ICAP, has more euro and yen volume.
Figures released by EBS last week showed a bigger rise on the month in spot trade volume of 39 per cent to $103.8 billion, but a bigger fall of 20 per cent from a year earlier.
The latest numbers from the Bank of England and New York Federal Reserve last month painted a similar picture.
They showed that daily currency volumes in London and North America shrank in October compared with a year ago, down 21 per cent in London to $2.15 trillion - the lowest in three years - and down 26 per cent in North America to $809.3 billion.
