Foreign exchange volumes on currency platforms run by Thomson Reuters rose by 9 percent year-on-year in December to $350 billion, as a drop in oil prices and expectations of further easing by the European Central Bank underpinned activity. Volumes have stayed on the higher side since October last year across most foreign exchange platforms after the Bank of Japan stunned markets with another round of monetary easing, provoking a sharp decline in the value of the yen.
Trading activity picked up again in January with currency markets witnessing their biggest ever day after Switzerland's shock removal of its cap on the Swiss franc last week. The chief executive of settlement company CLS, David Puth, told Reuters on Wednesday that global trading volumes after the Swiss National Bank's move last Thursday reached $9.2 trillion, nearly double the average daily turnover.
Data from Thomson Reuters showed that average spot daily volumes in December slipped to $106 billion, from $120 billion in November and $134.8 billion clocked in October. Spot volumes on the EBS platform, owned by ICAP, and which competes with Thomson Reuters, fell by 15 percent in December from a month earlier, averaging $105 billion a day.