The SIX Swiss Exchange, Switzerland’s principal stock exchange, published its key trading figures for 2018 on Thursday. Looking at the results, it appears that 2018 was the “year of the listings” for the exchange.

During 2018, 12 companies listed on the exchange, the most since 2001. One of the listings allowed SIX to carry out the third-largest initial public offering (IPO) in Europe for the year, which was SIG Combibloc. The IPO had a transaction volume of CHF 1.7 billion, the statement said.   

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Not only did the Swiss Exchange see an uptick in listings, but it also reported higher trading activity compared to the previous year. Trading turnover for the year jumped by 1.1 percent, hitting CHF 1.36 trillion ($1.38 trillion) by the end of 2018

The number of trades made during the year also increased by 17.3 percent year-on-year to slightly above 60.3 million trades. This means that securities worth CHF 5.5 billion were traded on an average trading day, the statement said.

Commenting on the results, Jos Dijsselhof, the CEO SIX said: “2018 was a realignment year for SIX. That’s why I am all the more pleased that it was a good year for our exchange. We carried out the highest number of initial public offerings in 17 years, as well as the third-largest IPO in Europe.”

“As in the previous year, our market share in Swiss large cap trading rose again – and now exceeds 70%. These values demonstrate our appeal as a venue for listing and trading securities.”

Equities hold up trading volumes in 2018

Despite this uptick in trading volumes, most segments were lower on the exchange on a yearly basis. However, equities (including funds segment) did post growth, which had a large impact on the overall results as it is the largest segment on SIX by far.

Specifically, trading turnover for the segment came in at CHF 1.11 trillion. This represents an increase of 4.7 percent. In line with the uptick in trading turnover, the number of trades also rose sharply, jumping by 18 percent to reach around 58.3 million.

Trading turnover for bonds, however, fell by 6.6 percent to CHF 120.6 billion. The number of trades was also down by 1.1 percent when measured against the previous year. Foreign currency bonds fell even more dramatically by 36.1 percent to CHF 16.8 billion.