The leading high-tech stock exchange Nasdaq is buying a 58% holding
in its troubled European equivalent Easdaq for an undisclosed sum
and renaming it Nasdaq Europe. The acquisition will mean that
Nasdaq can offer 24-hour global trading. A new European Trading
System, ETS, is due to be launched by the company in May or June
this year.
Nasdaq is the world’s second largest stock exchange and already
has a presence in Japan. Easdaq was set up in Brussels five years
ago and lists around 60 companies.
On Monday, Nasdaq also announced a partnership with the London
International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE), the
world's leading electronic derivatives exchange, to develop the
single stock futures market, based on global stocks, for US and
European customers.
These products will be listed on LIFFE's electronic trading
platform. Nasdaq and LIFFE are setting out to lead the development
of single stock futures in the US market and to further develop the
European market. Later this year, regulatory changes for the first
time, will enable US investors to trade single stock futures.
