Thomson Reuters spot FX volumes rebound in January to $123 bln

By Jamie McGeever

LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Daily spot trading volumes on currency trading platforms run by Thomson Reuters (Dusseldorf: TOC.DU - news) rebounded sharply in January from the previous month, according to figures published by the company late on Friday.

Compared with the same month a year earlier, however, volume was lower, cementing the view of many observers that the world's largest financial market is in decline thanks to tighter bank regulation, a widespread slowdown in emerging markets and lighter global trade flows.

Spot currency trading volume on TR platforms totalled $123 billion last month, up 35 percent from $91 billion in December - traditionally the lightest month of the year - and the highest since March.

That was down 9 percent, however, from the $135 billion recorded in January last year.

Total (Other OTC: TTFNF - news) foreign exchange trading volume across TR platforms, including forwards, swaps, options and non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) rose 12 percent on the month to $377 billion from $337 billion, but fell 5 percent on the year from $398 billion.

Much of the trading in sterling and "dollar bloc" currencies like the Australian and Canadian dollars goes through Thomson Reuters platforms while rival platform EBS, which is owned by the world's largest inter-dealer broker ICAP (Other OTC: IAPLF - news) , has more euro and yen volume.

Figures released by EBS last week showed a bigger rise on the month in spot trade volume of 39 percent to $103.8 billion, but a bigger fall of 20 percent from a year earlier.

The latest numbers from the Bank of England and New York Federal Reserve last month painted a similar picture.

They showed that daily currency volumes in London and North America shrank in October compared with a year ago, down 21 percent in London to $2.15 trillion - the lowest in three years - and down 26 percent in North America to $809.3 billion. (Reporting by Jamie McGeever; Editing by Toby Chopra)