By Clare Connaghan
Currency trading volumes handled by ICAP PLC (IAP.LN)-owned EBS
averaged $128.3 billion a day in April, 7% higher than the previous
month, the company said Friday.
EBS--which handles flows from the biggest banks in the
business--also saw a 17% rise in April from a year earlier when the
daily average was $109.7 billion.
Although April's volumes are higher both on the year and month,
activity is still lower than the first two months of the year, when
volumes averaged $145.1 billion daily.
This year started strongly with several banks reporting record
volumes of trade as trends such as yen weakness encouraged traders
and investors alike to put money to work. Activity slowed down in
March as a banking crisis in Cyprus reignited stress in the euro
zone. Those concerns have since eased, helping volumes in April to
pick up.
CME--the parent company of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange--said
Wednesday that its foreign-exchange volumes averaged 898,000
contracts a day in April, up 18% from the corresponding period last
year, but down 18% from March when the daily average was 1.1
million contracts.
Write to Clare Connaghan at clare.connaghan@dowjones.com