Thomson Reuters March FX volumes rise 13 pct from month ago

LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - Daily foreign exchange volumes on currency platforms run by Thomson Reuters rose to $402 billion last month from $355 billion in February, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The data from Thomson Reuters also showed average spot daily volumes in March rose to $132 billion, from $114 billion in February, a tad lower than that clocked in January when volumes rose to $135 billion.

January was a turbulent month for the $5-trillion-a-day global currency market, with the shock move on Jan. 15 by the Swiss National Bank to scrap its more-than three-year-old franc cap against the euro pushing up volumes and volatility.

The rise in volumes on the Thomson Reuters platform mirrored a similar rise on the rival EBS platform, owned by the world's largest inter-dealer broker, ICAP (LSE: IAP.L - news) .

Trading on EBS which is the main venue for banks and other major institutions to trade the euro, yen and Swiss franc against the dollar, rose back above $100 billion a day in March, up 22 percent from February and 30 percent from a year ago.

The rise in currency volumes in March was mainly on the back of a drop in the euro, which fell to 12-year lows against the dollar, as the European Central Bank embarked on a trillion euro asset purchase programme. (Reporting by Anirban Nag Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)