European stock trading volumes rise 26 pct in 2014 -Markit

Feb 11 (Reuters) - European equity trading volume rose 26 percent in 2014, Markit data showed on Wednesday, a recovery from years of anaemic trading that may give brokers and market operators some breathing space
Rising volatility has improved the trading volumes, with January data showing another monthly rise. But it is not clear whether that will be enough to offset intense competition and wafer-thin margins for the brokers processing those trades.
Markit, a financial information services company, said aggregate European equity trading volumes rose to 9.7 trillion euros ($11 trillion) last year from 7.7 trillion euros in 2013, and despite a small rise in regional stock indexes for the year.
Trading volumes on increasingly popular exchange-traded funds (ETFs) jumped by 57 percent, to 437 billion euros, according to Markit, representing 4.5 percent of all equity volumes during the year.
Morgan Stanley topped the broker league table for European equity trading, with 1.61 trillion euros of executed client trades for the year. Bank of America Merrill Lynch followed with 1.20 trillion euros, then UBS with 1.12 trillion euros, according to Markit data.

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