Market Report - Dec 2001

London Stock Exchange Plc
11 January 2002

11 January 2002

MONTHLY MARKET REPORT FOR DECEMBER 2001

  * DECEMBER UK TRADING VOLUMES UP 22 % YEAR ON YEAR
  * 17 IPOs ON AIM IN DECEMBER



In December, trading volumes across the London Stock Exchange's markets
continued their strong record of growth:

  * 40.8 billion UK shares were traded in December, up 22 per cent on
    December 2000.
  * The number of trades in UK shares was also up 22 per cent on the same
    month in 2000, rising from 1.89 million trades to 2.29 million trades.

The success of SETS(TM), the Exchange's electronic order book that has
underpinned the growth in trades over the course of 2001, continued in
December with 1.3 million trades against 0.7 million trades for the same month
in 2000. Year on year, this represented an 89 per cent increase.

There were 36 new issues during December 2001, 26 of which were IPOs. A total
of 304 companies were admitted to the Exchange's markets in 2001, including
155 IPOs. Although lower in absolute numbers than the exceptional levels of
2000 (487 new admissions in 2000), these represented 60 per cent of the total
western European IPO market.

The IPO market has been driven by the growth of AIM(TM), the Exchange's global
market for smaller and growing companies, which attracted 17 IPOs in December
2001, raising £53m between them. With 94 IPOs in 2001, AIM alone accounted for
approximately one third of western European IPOs, bucking the global trend of
slower IPO markets.

On 14 December 2001, 5 IPOs were admitted to the AIM market - a record for one
day. AIM is firmly established as a success story in the UK and the Exchange
is increasingly promoting AIM overseas, with further interest from companies
and advisors in Europe, Israel, Canada and Australia. By the end of 2001, the
total number of companies on AIM stood at 629 including 42 international
companies.

                                   - ends -

For further information, please contact:

Tiffany Hardie-Evans          Press Office      [phone]

                         [e-mail]



Notes to editors:

  * About the London Stock Exchange:


    The London Stock Exchange is one of the world's leading equity exchanges
    and a leading provider of services that facilitate the raising of capital
    and the trading of shares.

    The London Stock Exchange is the most international equities exchange by
    trading in the world and Europe's largest pool of liquidity. By the end of
    2001, the market capitalisation of UK and international companies on its
    markets amounted to £4.1 trillion, with over £5.6 trillion of business
    transacted over the year. The London Stock Exchange is a Recognised
    Investment Exchange (RIE) under the Financial Services and Markets Act
    2000 and is supervised by the Financial Services Authority.



  * SETS - the electronic order book.


        It is now over four years since the launch of SETS and the service
        continues to go from strength to strength. Overall, the market is
        benefiting from tighter spreads, greater liquidity and lower execution
        costs. Usage of SETS continues to grow, as shown by recent record
        increases in the number of orders entered, the number of firms using
        the order book and order book share of business. For more information
        see our publication: 'SETS - four years on' available at
        www.londonstockexchange.com/trading/pdfs/sets4years.pdf

  * Indices are calculated and managed by FTSE Group, a world-leader in the
    creation and management of global equity indices. The FTSE Group is
    jointly owned by the London Stock Exchange and the Financial Times, but
    operates as a wholly autonomous company. For information about the company
    or any FTSE indices, please contact [e-mail]
  * IPO - when a new company joins our market raising money. This excludes
    transfers and introductions (a company that joins a market without raising
    money).
  * The Exchange's main market and AIM accounted for 60 per cent of all IPOs
    in western Europe during the period 1 January - 30 November 2001. Source:
    London Stock Exchange, Thomson Financial and individual exchange websites.
  * LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE CREST AND LOGO, SETS and AIM are trademarks of
    London Stock Exchange plc. FTSE is a trademark of London Stock Exchange
    plc and the Financial Times Limited and is used by FTSE International
    Limited under licence.



LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE

MONTHLY FACTSHEET FIGURES

December 2001
                                       2001                       2000
DOMESTIC EQUITY TRADING            Month Year to date        Month Year to date
Equity Trading Value (£m)        119,351    1,904,844      128,959    1,895,534
Number of Equity Trades        2,294,426   32,130,988    1,885,601   29,427,308

INTERNATIONAL EQUITY TRADING
Equity Trading Value (£m)        217,675    3,676,342      246,931    3,519,722
Number of Equity Trades        1,364,847   17,454,095      975,308   11,300,814

                                     December 2001           December 2000
DOMESTIC MARKET CAPITALISATION £bn            1,535                       1,812

TOTAL NUMBER OF COMPANIES                     2,891                       2,929
                                     
        UK list                      1,809               1,904

                                     
        Foreign                      453                 501

                                     
        AIM                          629                 524

                                     
        techMARK                     243                 246



                                           2001                    2000
MONEY RAISED £m                     Month  Year to date      Month Year to date
UK & AIM New Issues Equity            195         6,587        620       12,798
                                    1,611        16,287        673       15,653
        Further, Rights and
        Other

                                    
        Bonds and Warrants          8,316        83,342     12,261      100,556

Int. New Issues Equity                289         3,581        121        5,481
                                    
        Further, Rights and         3,135         4,902        296        4,898
        Other

                                    
        Bonds and Warrants          4,418        81,344      7,139       87,270


COMPANIES ADMITTED IN MONTH            36           304         45          487


INDICES PERFORMANCE   Month Close            Mvt in Month           Mvt in Year
FTSE100                   5,217.4                     +0%                  -16%
FTSE All Share            2,523.9                     +0%                  -15%
FTSE techMARK 100         1,472.7                     -2%                  -43%
FTSE AIM                    897.8                     +0%                  -38%