It's all looking chipper for the NZX

The sharemarket's stellar run in 2004 has been confirmed by the latest NZX statistics.

The market capitalisation of the total exchange was $63.8 billion last month compared with $52.3 billion in December 2003, an increase of nearly 22 per cent.

The NZX operating metrics for December showed that total trades were also up from the same month a year earlier. There were 47,883 trades on the NZSX market compared with 43,223 for December 2003, an increase of more than 10 per cent.

NZX chief executive Mark Weldon said the market's growth had created a "virtuous circle" as greater liquidity and a wider choice of companies made it increasingly attractive to new investors.

He said trading usually slowed down late in December but, this time, good volumes traded right through until Christmas.

The value of trades on the NZSX last month was $1.78 billion, up 12.4 per cent on the $1.58 billion reported for the same month in 2003.

Weldon said the 22 per cent increase in market capital equated to about $11 billion. "That's a pretty chunky number. It's pleasing to think that has all added to the wealth of investors," he said. "That doesn't include dividends that are paid out by companies during the year."

Weldon was confident the fundamentals were in place for the market to continue performing strongly.

He hoped the growth in size and liquidity would encourage big investors such as the Government's "Cullen fund" to take another look at how much they were investing in the local market.

The exchange's alternative market, the NZAX, had 465 trades last month and 1505 trades in the December quarter.

The value of trades was $2.4 million for the month and $8.5 million for the quarter.

The number of New Zealand listed issuers rose from 169 in December 2003 to 192 a year later.

JINGLING ALONG

Market capitalisation in December 2004 up 22 per cent on December 2003.

Trading volumes up 10 per cent.

Value of trades up 12 per cent.