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ELECTRONIC TRADING NEWSFLASHES

Man Financial Singapore connects to four Asian markets via Patsystems; Eurex delays U.S. launch, New date is February 8; ITG's revenues decline 14 percent in 2003.

Man Financial Singapore Pte Ltd went live on January 26 with an exchange-specific adapter from Patsystems to connect to four Asian markets: the Hong Kong Exchange, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Tokyo International Financial Futures Exchange and the Osaka Stock Exchange. Beta tests were conducted in December 2003 and in January. The futures-commission merchant now offers access to more than nine global-futures exchanges, including Eurex, Euronext.Liffe, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade and SGX-DT.

Eurex, the Swiss German derivatives exchange, has moved back the opening date of its new U.S.-based futures exchange by one week to launch on February 8. The delay is in response to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) holding a meeting to consider Eurex's application for contract market designation on Wednesday, February 4. Eurex's U.S. launch is subject to CFTC approval. According to prepared comments by Eurex Chief Executive Officer Rudolf Ferscha, Eurex has finalized preparations and the market is ready to start. "We anticipate a positive response from the Commission on February 4, which will allow for a timely implementation of our U.S. venture," he states. According to Eurex, the technical and operational launch preparations for Eurex U.S. have been completed as planned. The production software is being rolled out today to customers for installation at member sites, completing technical member readiness for the exchange.

Investment Technology Group (NYSE: ITG) reported revenues of $86.5 million for the fourth-quarter ended Dec. 21, 2003, a decrease of fourteen percent over the fourth quarter of 2002. Net income for the provider of technology-based equity-trading services rose three percent to $12.5 million, while earnings per share grew eight percent to 27 cents, as compared to the 2002 fourth quarter. Excluding non-recurring items pertaining to a tax settlement and asset impairment write-downs, net income for the fourth quarter of 2003 was $12.2 million and diluted earnings per share were 26 cents. For the full year, ITG's total revenues declined 14 percent to $334 million, net income decreased 47 percent to $42 million and diluted earnings per share fell 44 percent to 89 cents, versus the prior year, excluding non-recurring charges in both years. Weakness in the U.S. dollar helped the company post record international revenues and pre-tax results for the fourth quarter up to $17.9 million " a $4.5 million or 34 percent increase over the previous year. ($2.2 million was due to currency fluctuations.) For the full year, international revenues were $70.2 million, a 45 percent increase over last year, with $5.6 million of the $18.7 million increase due to currency fluctuations. "Our domestic business faced significant headwinds in 2003," states ITG president and chief executive officer (CEO) Robert Russel in the earnings release. While the CEO expects business conditions in the U.S. to remain challenging, he cites early signs of progress in the company's growth strategy with respect to Client-Site Trading products and Analytical Products.

Linedata Services partnered with Wave Securities, an introducing broker owned by Archipelago Holdings, to provide a FIX (Financial Information Exchange) interface between the LongView Trading System and RealTick. This will give customers of LongView real-time FIX connectivity to Archipelago Exchange (ArcaEx) by staging orders on Real Tick " the front-end developed by Townsend Analytics Ltd. Through the use of a simple "drag and drop" feature within LongView order-management system, joint customers can easily route orders and executions between the systems, without the need for re-keying. The seamless interface also provides LongView users with direct access to ArcaEx's traditional and sophisticated order types.

GAIN Capital Group launched FOREX.com a new educational and trading-portal for retail investors. The site includes a browser-based trading platform that requires no download or installation. It seeks to support the growing number of new entrants to the foreign exchange (forex) market, including self-directed trades from other financial markets who need increased education. It features an extensive learning section with access to training courses and market research, as well as wireless trading capabilities providing traders with anytime access to the 24-hour forex market. A free 30-day demo account is available for traders to practice in a live environment without putting capital at risk. GAIN Capital provides foreign-exchange trading services including direct-access trading and asset management.

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