Britain urged European Union competition officials on Wednesday to reject "political interference" and "vested interests" when ruling on plans to create the world's biggest stock exchange. EU officials have signalled they will recommend blocking Deutsche Boerse's $9 billion takeover of transatlantic rival NYSE Euronext because it would account for over 90 percent of European listed derivatives trading and a large chunk of clearing.The two exchanges are mounting last-minute efforts to rescue the merger and Britain has made no secret of its wish to promote open markets and competition in clearing.The European Commission' 27 commissioners are to meet possibly as early as Feb. 1 to rule on the merger and UK Financial Services Minister Mark Hoban urged them to avoid being swayed by political arguments."In a post-crisis market where we have seen extensive consolidation across the board, we cannot afford to sit back and sacrifice competition and customer welfare," he said in remarks to be delivered at the London Stock Exchange, a top rival to the planned megabourse.
NYSE Euronext is a global operator of financial markets and provider of trading technologies. Shares of NYX fell by 1.01% or $-0.27/share to $26.48. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $21.80 and as high as $41.60. On average, 2576040 shares of NYX exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3495569.
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