ITS breaks trade volume growth streak but still outperforms AIX

The volume of securities traded on the International Trading System (ITS) in Astana fell by 27% in April to $955 million month-on-month (MoM), down from the previous month’s record of $1.31 billion, the platform said in a statement. Meanwhile, the Astana International Exchange (AIX) reported a 74% MoM increase to $86 million — still nearly 11 times lower than the ITS figure.

According to ITS, the change in trade volume reflects current sentiment in the global financial markets.

«In the long term, trading volume is expected to grow, supported by a rising number of active investors and growing demand for new instruments,» the platform said on its website.

As of late April, the platform offered investors access to more than 3,000 shares and deposit receipts from companies and exchange-traded funds from the U.S., Europe and Asia listed on the NYSE, Nasdaq (U.S.) and the AIX.

The platform had been on a streak over the past six months, consistently breaking its own monthly trade volume records. In November, ITS reported $66 million in trade volume; $91 million in December; $670 million in January; $806 million in February and a record $1.31 billion in March.

The AIX reported that transactions with shares accounted for only 36.5%, or $31.4 million out of its total trade volume. Meanwhile, transactions involving bonds amounted to $54.6 million. The most popular stocks on the AIX in April were shares of KazMunayGas ($17.4 million), Solidcore Resources ($7.7 million) and KEGOC ($2.4 million).

As of today, there are four shareholders of ITS: Freedom Kazakhstan Ltd., the Foundation for the Support and Development of the International Financial Center, AIFC Markets Limited and Roman Goryunov, former head of the Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange, according to the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA).

Among AIX’s shareholders are the AIFC, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the China-Kazakhstan Production Capacity Cooperation Fund and Nasdaq.