Trading platform CMC upbeat on annual income amid high market volatility

(Reuters) - CMC Markets <CMCX.L> said on Thursday its annual net operating income (NOI) would be towards the upper end of the current market consensus, as trading on its online platform benefited from this year's coronavirus-driven market volatility.

CMC said NOI would be towards the upper end of the 321 million pounds to 348.7 million pounds range estimated by analysts. Last fiscal year, it posted 252 million pounds in NOI.

The range was revised upwards after CMC said last month it expects NOI to exceed the upper end of consensus.

Like its peers IG <IGG.L> and Plus500 <PLUSP.L>, CMC has benefited from record levels of trading in financial markets in 2020, fuelled mainly by fears of the health crisis' impact on global economic growth.

While the CBOE Volatility Index <.VIX>, often dubbed Wall Street's fear gauge, has fallen from its March peak, it is still holding comfortably above levels seen in 2019.

High volatility helps businesses like CMC, as it drives up transaction volumes on their platforms.

CMC's share price briefly dropped this week when Britain's financial watchdog announced a ban on the sale of products that track the price of crypto-assets to retail investors.

While the company made no reference to the ban in its statement, Shore Capital analysts have said the impact should be limited for CMC as crypto assets have not seen large trading volumes.

(Reporting by Muvija M and Shanima A in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)