Boost for online share traders

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

THE battered online share trading sector has received a much-needed boost with Europe's third largest player unveiling a 24% jump in trading activity for the final quarter of last year.

Frankfurt-listed Consors boasted that its number of accounts had risen by 10,000 in the three months from the preceding quarter. That represented quarter-on-quarter growth of 1.9%, from 1% in the third quarter. 'After a business environment characterised by weak capital markets in the first nine months of 2001, Consors could begin a change of trend in the fourth quarter,' the company added.

Consors' bigger rival DAB said earlier this week that its activity rose 12% in the fourth quarter and that it was optimistic the upward trend would continue.

Shares in online brokers sank to record lows last year as economic uncertainty deterred many investors. Consors' stock climbed 2.8% in late morning trade, continuing a recovery underway since the 11 September terrorist attacks.

'I can imagine some people were positively surprised by the figures but they matched my expectations,' said Britta Graf-Tiedtke, an analyst at Concord Equity Research. 'This had to happen after the markets recovered.'

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