OREANDA-NEWS. January 20, 2011. The MICEX Group has summed up the results of its activities in 2010. In 2010, the total volume of trading in the Group’s markets amounted to 175.7 trillion rubles.

In 2010, the MICEX Group continued to work towards the development of the Russian financial market, the improvement of its competitiveness and the creation of an international financial center in Moscow. The first major step in this direction was the merger of the NDC and the MICEX Settlement House. This resulted in the establishment of the National Settlement Depository. It meets international standards and is the basic component of the post-trading infrastructure of the future international financial center.

Last year, the MICEX implemented new modes of trading, launched new instruments for qualified investors and improved its listing rules. The MICEX continued to develop the project “The Market for Innovations and Investments (MICEX MII)”, started jointly with RUSNANO Company on the basis of the IGC Sector. Last year’s important events included the placement of foreign issuers’ securities (the bonds of a foreign state, the Republic of Belarus, and the bonds of international financial institution, EBRD) and the launch of trading in Sberbank’s Russian Depository Receipts certifying the rights to common registered shares in United Company RUSAL Plc.

In December, the MICEX launched trading in the RMB/RUR currency pair. The MICEX was the first organized market for the yuan outside China. The launch of trading in the RMB/RUR pair is a step towards the setting of market-based quotations of the two currencies against each other. This will provide greater transparency and give access to trading to the widest possible range of participants.

In 2010, the MICEX acquired the controlling stake in the Ukrainian stock exchange PFTS. The MICEX’s entry of the CIS markets will contribute to making Moscow a financial center for companies and investors from Russia and the CIS countries.

In the summer of 2010, the MICEX electronic trading floor “State Procurements” began its full-scale operations across the country. Along with four other auctions, “State Procurements” was selected by the Federal Antimonopoly Service for state and municipal needs. “State Procurements” is implemented on the basis of the MICEX’s up-to-date and reliable soft- and hardware complex, which enables to participate in trading from any Internet access points worldwide.

In the total volume of trading in the MICEX Group’s markets, 45.2% was accounted for by the foreign exchange market and 17.4% – by the government securities market and the money market. The total volume of trading in the MICEX foreign exchange market amounted to 79.5 trillion rubles, the government securities market and the money market accounted for 30.6 trillion rubles.

In 2010, the MICEX stock market showed the highest rate of growth of trading volumes. The total volume of operations on the MICEX Stock Exchange exceeded the previous year’s figure 1.6 times and amounted to 64 trillion rubles. The share of the stock the market in the Exchange’s total volume of trading equaled 36.4%.

At the end of 2010, the MICEX index, comprised of 30 stocks of Russia’s leading issuers representing the major sectors of the Russian economy, reached 1687.99 points, having grown by 23.2% over the year.

Increase in the volume of refinancing operations (repos) confirmed the post-crisis recovery of the market. In the stock market, the volume of repos doubled.

The steady growth of participants’ interest in the derivatives market and customer-oriented activities of the MICEX contributed to the increase in the volume of on-exchange trading in futures. In 2010, the total volume of trading in the MICEX Group’s derivatives market reached 1.5 trillion rubles, a more than 2.3-fold increase against the previous year.

The volume of trading in the MICEX derivatives commodity market amounted to 44.2 billion rubles (in 2009: 45.3 billion rubles). Compared with 2009, the volume of the market in contracts increased by more than 12%. In 2010, in terms of deliverable wheat futures, the derivatives commodity market of the NAMEX surpassed the London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE) in the volume of the wheat futures market in contracts by more than 10%. In September 2010, the National Mercantile Exchange (NAMEX) launched deliverable futures on rice and rice grits with delivery on EXW terms, the warehouses of the Southern Federal District.

On January 5, 2011, HM Revenue and Customs of Great Britain accorded the MICEX Stock Exchange the “Recognised stock exchange” status. This is a sign of international recognition of the MICEX Group. The new status will contribute to the inflow of foreign securities and new investors to the Russian stock market.