London, 3 December 2012
NASDAQ OMX Commodities and Nord Pool Spot, joint operators of N2EX, the UK power market, are celebrating a new record for power volume traded on the N2EX day-ahead auction – as the market broke the 400GWh mark.
The auction held on Monday 26 November recorded a traded volume of 400.2 GWh, the first time that the N2EX auction has broken 400 GWh since it was launched in January 2010.
The steady increase in volume being traded on N2EX during 2012 has been attributed to members increasing their trading activity due to the greater liquidity in the N2EX market. The use of Gross Bidding – committing a minimum 30% of buy and sell volume to trade on N2EX – by major UK utilities has also created confidence in market depth among auction participants, encouraging increased trading.
Welcoming the new trading record Mikael Lundin, Nord Pool Spot’s CEO, said: “Achieving such a strong auction volume in such a relatively short time is an important milestone for the development of both N2EX and the wider UK power market. We have worked hard to remove barriers to entry and to encourage new participants from across the UK power sector to trade their power in the robust, transparent and expanding GB wholesale market. Depth of liquidity is a ‘holy grail’ for efficient power market trading and at N2EX we have dedicated a great deal of time and effort to encouraging greater trading commitment from our members across the board.
“Our dedication to building liquidity, producing reliable prices and providing innovative products has seen both a steady growth in the number of N2EX market participants and in traded volumes throughout 2012. We are proud that today N2EX provides a trustworthy reference market for UK power and an auction that accounts for over a third of GB day-ahead consumption.”
Geir Reigstad, Head of NASDAQ OMX Commodities, added: “We continue to demonstrate that our model works for the best of the market with a steady increase in the liquidity in the daily auction. With the establishment of such a strong reference price, NASDAQ OMX Commodities is now focusing our efforts along with our members on the development of the NASDAQ OMX UK power futures. We are undeniably delighted at NASDAQ OMX Commodities of our participation in this achievement.”
The N2EX day-ahead auction has cleared in excess of 80,000 GWh and the Continuous OTR Market over 37,000 GWh, so far this year.
For further information, please contact N2EX.
Media contacts:
Sara Aadnesen, Director Corporate Communications, NASDAQ OMX Commodities and N2EX, phone: +47 6752 8080/+47 9060 0759, sara.aadnesen@nasdaqomx.com
Stuart Disbrey, Communications Manager UK, Nord Pool Spot and N2EX, phone: +44 207 065 7042/+44 7887 409 044, sd@npspot.com
About N2EX
N2EX is the name of the UK power market offering from Nord Pool Spot and NASDAQ OMX Commodities. NASDAQ OMX Clearing is the authorized clearinghouse.
The web site, www.n2ex.com, provides market information and documentation for the UK power market.
About NASDAQ OMX
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world's largest exchange company. It delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents, with more than 3,500 listed companies. NASDAQ OMX offers multiple capital raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings market, NASDAQ OMX Nordic, NASDAQ OMX Baltic, NASDAQ OMX first North, and the U.S. 144A sector. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and exchange-traded funds. NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more than 50 countries. NASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMX Baltic are not legal entities but describe the common offering from NASDAQ OMX exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, visit http://www.nasdaqomx.com. *Please follow NASDAQ OMX on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/NASDAQ-OMX/108167527653) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/nasdaqomx).
About NASDAQ OMX Commodities
NASDAQ OMX Commodities is the brand name for the NASDAQ OMX Group’s worldwide suite of commodity related products and services. The NASDAQ OMX Commodities offerings include power, natural gas and carbon emission markets and clearing services. NASDAQ OMX Commodities is a trademark of the NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.
NASDAQ OMX Commodities Europe is the trade name of NASDAQ OMX Oslo ASA which is authorized as a commodity derivatives exchange by the Norwegian Ministry of Finance and supervised by the Norwegian Financial Supervisory Authority. All trades with NASDAQ OMX Commodities Europe are subject to clearing with NASDAQ OMX Clearing.
NASDAQ OMX Clearing is the trade name of NASDAQ OMX Stockholm AB which is authorized and supervised as a multi-asset clearinghouse by the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority in Sweden as well as authorized to conduct clearing operation in Norway by the Norwegian Ministry of Finance.
For more information, visit www.nasdaqomxcommodities.com
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