Companies listed on the UK’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) saw the average value of their daily trading of shares fall by over 15% over the past year, in a huge blow to the market’s liquidity.
According to data from accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young, the average value of the daily trading of shares was just £248,990 for the year ending 28 February 2024, down from £294,300 in the previous period.
This decrease in liquidity was driven by UK investors increasingly trading in overseas companies, especially US technology stocks, including Nvidia and other members of the ‘Magnificent Seven’.
The year-on-year number was also affected by a broader drop in liquidity that followed the Covid-19 period peak in stock market trading, which impacted market trading volumes globally.
In the UK, average value of the daily trading of AIM has fallen by 44% from its Covid-19 high of £442,996 in 2021-22. Lacklustre share prices and trading of some of AIM’s flagship companies also had an effect.
The share price of online fashion retailer Boohoo fell by 89% during the period, from £337.50 to £35.99, while the share price of drinks manufacturer Fever Tree fell by 47%, from £2,260 to £1,197, according to Hacker Young’s data.
