LME Says Trading Volume Last Year Was Second Highest on Record

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The London Metal Exchange said trading volume was the second highest on record last year, led by aluminum and copper. Trading reached 111.9 million lots, 1 percent less than the record 113.2 million lots handled in 2008, the bourse said in a statement today. Transactions carried a notional value of $7.41 trillion, compared with $10.24 trillion a year earlier. The LME index of six metals almost doubled last year, rebounding from a 49 percent drop a year earlier, as the global economy recovered from its steepest slump since World War II. “2009 was a difficult year in the broader market as the recession affected both production and consumption,” Chief Executive Officer Martin Abbott said in the statement. The LME handled 49.7 million lots of aluminum, 26.5 million lots of copper and 16.6 million lots of zinc.