Daily spot trading volumes on currency trading platforms run by Thomson Reuters and ICAP fell in April, extending a downward trend seen in recent months, according to figures the companies published on Thursday. Spot currency trading volume on TR platforms totalled $97 billion, down from $104 billion in March and nearly 18 percent lower than $118 billion seen in April last year. ICAP said daily volumes on its electronic platform EBS, where the bulk of the trades in the dollar, the yen and the euro are carried out, was down 15 percent in April from a year ago, at $82.3 billion.
Total foreign exchange trading volume across TR platforms, including forwards, swaps, options and non-deliverable forwards (NDFs), rose to $373 billion a day from $369 billion in the same month last year. On the month, total volumes were also slightly higher. The decline in trading volume across the world's largest financial market is the result of tighter bank regulation, fragile emerging markets and lighter global trade flows, analysts say. Last month, instructions to settlement bank CLS showed volumes fell to $4.69 trillion a day from $5.15 trillion in the same month last year.