Liquidity in AIM steady even as main markets slide during crisis
LIQUIDITY in the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) has held up much better than the main markets during the financial crisis and recession, according to data out today.
Investors traded £155.1m worth of AIM shares on average per day during 2012, the data from accountancy group UHY Hacker Young showed, a decline of seven per cent on 2011.
This compares favourably with the 16 per cent collapse in trading on the main market, bringing the daily average value from £5bn in 2011 to £4.2bn this year.
“Despite the slight dip in volumes, trading activity on AIM remains relatively buoyant,” said Laurence Sacker at UHY Hacker Young.
This came as data consultancy Morningstar revealed that Finncap has taken top spot in its league of AIM stockbrokers, boosting its client numbers to 84 in the third quarter, from 79 the quarter before. New clients included iron ore miner Ferrex, software provider Ideagen, and China-orientated electronics producer Kada Technology.
Cenkos, last quarter’s leader, placed second with 79 clients, down from 80, with Canaccord Genuity in third, WH Ireland in fourth, and Seymour Pierce rounding off the top five. However Finncap’s success in client headcount was not equally replicated in client market capitalisation, where it placed 12th. Numis Securities, working for firms worth a total £6.7bn, topped that table, followed by Canaccord and Mirabaud Securities.