OMX Nordic shows warm growth in the snow and ice
THE Nasdaq OMX Group is the world’s largest exchange company, listing 3,600 companies on exchanges in six different continents.
It incorporates four Scandinavian stock exchanges, two of which are based in Stockholm, Sweden. The other two are in Copenhagen in Denmark and Helsinki in Finland, while there are also Nasdaq OMX exchanges in Iceland, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius.
Well-known names listed on the Scandinavian exchanges – known collectively as Nasdaq OMX Nordic – include telecoms giants Nokia and Ericsson and Volvo, the car manufacturer.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given all the developments in the telecoms industry, Nokia and Ericsson were the most heavily-traded companies across the exchanges in the three countries during 2010.
Credit Suisse shares also changed hands a lot, probably due to the ongoing repercussions of the global financial crisis.
These companies are far from the only household names that can be accessed via the Nasdaq OMX Nordic exchanges, though.
Other notable players include the Swedish high street fashion store chain H&M, brewer Carlsberg and healthcare specialist Novo Nordisk.
The latter two companies are listed in their home country of Denmark, where the first of the Scandinavian exchanges to start trading – the Copenhagen Securities Exchange – was established in 1808.
The Stockholm Securities Exchange came next in 1863, while the Helsinki Securities Exchange – the modern day version of which is now home to Nokia – was not opened until more than a century later in 1912.
Trading in options and futures started in Copenhagen in 1988, while electronic trading reached Stockholm and Helsinki in 1990.
However, despite various alliances between the Scandinavian markets in the 1990s, it was not until 2003 that they began to really come together via the merger of OM and Hex Group to form OMHEX, later OMX.
The Copenhagen Stock Exchange joined the group in 2005 and the OMX Nordic Exchange brand – incorporating Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen – was first used in 2006.
Nasdaq then acquired OMX the next year, forming the Nasdaq OMX Group that exists today and has achieved significant growth in recent times.
In 2010, for example, the average daily share trading amounted to €2.5bn, up from €2.2bn in 2009, while the number of share trades hit 285,000 per day, up from 214,000 the previous year.
Total derivatives trading also rose by a massive 37 per cent, from 400,000 contracts per day in 2009 to 546,000 contracts in 2010.
This is much stronger growth than most other world markets managed during the same timeframe.
Executive vice president of Nasdaq OMX Nordic Hans-Ole Jochumsen said: “The year 2010 was very strong for the Nordic markets.
“Our indexes increased by 26 per cent in Stockholm, 33 per cent in Copenhagen and 23 per cent in Helsinki, compared with an average increase of 4 per cent in European markets and an average global increase of 12 per cent.”
The most recent figures released by Nasdaq OMX Nordic also tell the same tale, with the total market capitalisation of companies listed on the Scandinavian exchanges jumping from €668bn in May 2010 to €809bn last month.
One reason for this is that Nasdaq OMX Nordic reduced costs for those trading on its exchanges by 20 per cent last year, thanks to the introduction of faster systems and caps on fees.
NASDAQ OMX NORDIC: FACTS AND FIGURES
● LOCATIONS
6 NIKOLAJ PLADS, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
14 FABIANINKATU, HELSINKI, FINLAND
15 TULLVAKTSVAGEN, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
● OPENING AND CLOSING TIMES [LOCAL TIME]
COPENHAGEN:
9AM OPEN; 5PM CLOSE
[8AM-4PM LONDON TIME]
HELSINKI:
10AM OPEN; 6.30PM CLOSE
[8AM-4.30 PM LONDON TIME]
STOCKHOLM:
9AM OPEN; 5.30PM CLOSE
[8AM-4.30PM LONDON TIME]
● MARKET CLOSURES
COPENHAGEN:
APRIL 21, 22, 25, MAY 20, JUNE 2, 3, 13, DECEMBER 26
HELSINKI:
JANUARY 6, APRIL 22, 25, JUNE 2, 24, DECEMBER 6, 26
STOCKHOLM:
JANUARY 6, APRIL 22, 24, JUNE 2, 6, 24, DECEMBER 12
● CURRENCY
COPENHAGEN: DANISH KRONE
HELSINKI: EURO
STOCKHOLM: SWEDISH KRONA
● NUMBER OF LISTINGS
ABOUT 650 MAIN MARKET LISTINGS
● VOLUME
€2,187,276 (NASDAQ OMX NORDIC)
● MARKET CAPITALISATION
€809BN
(ALL NASDAQ OMX NORDIC MARKETS, AT END OF MAY 2011.)