NZX share trading surges

The volume of share trading on the NZX surged 48 per cent last month as investor interest was piqued by the new listing of online auction site Trade Me and the demerging of Telecom and Chorus into separate listed entities.

The total number of trades climbed 43 per cent to 63,072 in December compared to the same month a year earlier, with the total value of trading up 1.6 per cent to $2.3 billion.

Equity transactions made up the bulk of trading, up 48 per cent to 59,724 for a value of $2.2 billion, while debt transactions fell 5.5 per cent to 3,348, valued at $92 million.

Market capitalisation of all equity fell 0.3 per cent in the year to $55.9 billion, or 27.4 per cent of gross domestic product, and the debt market cap slipped 0.1 per cent to $16 billion.

The flurry of share trading came in a month where Trade Me listed half-way through December and after Telecom carved out its network business Chorus into a separately listed company at the tail-end of November.

Some $1.56 billion of capital was raised by issuers in December, with $51 million in primary equity, $1.26 billion in dual and secondary equity and $247 million new debt issues.

That took the total capital raised to $11.87 billion in 2011.

There were 171 equity securities listed on the NZX in December, unchanged from a year earlier, while debt securities fell 7.8 per cent to 107 in the year.

Stock exchange operator NZX was one of the best-performing stocks in 2011, surging an annual 48 per cent. The shares gained 0.8 per cent to $2.38 in trading yesterday.