Value of shares on ISEQ increases by 50%

The Irish Stock Exchange has reported continued strong growth in equity trading volumes in the first nine months of 2005.

The value of shares traded on the ISE increased by 50% to €80.7 billion for the nine months ended 30 September 2005 from €53.9 billion for the same period in 2004, itself a year of very strong turnover.

Average daily turnover was €425 million, up 49% on the 2004 average of €285million. The average daily number of transactions on the Irish Stock Exchange increased by 29% to 3,075 for the nine months to the end of September, 2005 compared to 2,388 for the same period in 2004.

Companies raised €194 million in the third quarter of 2005, bringing the total money raised by companies this year to over €1 billion.

Two new companies, getmobile europe plc and Irish Estates Plc joined the Irish Enterprise Exchange (‘IEX’) market which was launched in April, 2005. IEX is designed to suit the needs of small to mid-sized companies. There are now twelve companies quoted on IEX.

The Irish market continued to perform strongly against global markets and the 10% increase in the ISEQ Overall Index in the nine months to September outperformed global indices such as the FTSE 100, NASDAQ Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The ISEQ sub-indices also performed well year to date with the ISEQ Financial and Small Cap indices gaining 16% and 41% respectively. The ISEQ Overall and the ISEQ Small Cap reached their lifetime highs in September with figures of 6,866 and 2,964 respectively.