nite article...
Knight sets Europe plans for next year
Awaits Nasdaq before staffing off hours trading in the U.S.
By Emily Church, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 2:00 PM ET Oct 1, 1999 NewsWatch
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Knight/Trimark is eyeing a launch of market making operations in European securities in the second half of next year, Chief Executive Kenneth Pasternak said on Friday.
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Updated:
10/1/99 1:02:54 PM ET
A move by Knight (NITE: news, msgs), one the largest market makers in Nasdaq stock market issues, directly into European operations shouldn't come as a surprise; the company paid $8.2 million for roughly a 19 percent stake in the Brussels-based Easdaq stock market in late July. The company also opened a sales office in London over the summer to serve European clients in U.S. equities.
Building out a trading infrastructure, however, would be a big step for the New Jersey-based firm. The company's stock was on a fast track higher earlier this year along with heavier trading volume thanks to ties with some of the fast-growing online brokerages. But since May it has declined steadily as concerns arose about online trading volumes.
"I don't have a roll-out date; we certainly can't expect to be up and running until the third or fourth quarter of next year," Pasternak CBS.MarketWatch.com. The company is still researching specifics, such as post-settlement issues.
"Easdaq's one possible platform that I'll use to create a pan-European (operation)," he said. Entering trading in Europe is easier in some locations than others, he said. "Half of Europe looks like the Nasdaq and the other half like the NYSE," he said.
The headquarters for the new operations hasn't been decided upon, with London and Germany apparently the two countries under consideration.
Waiting for Nasdaq
Meanwhile, back in the states, Knight's waiting on Nasdaq's next move before expanding its own market making operations into the off-hours, he said. Nasdaq this week said it delayed plans to keep its entire stock quote system open past the close in New York to facilitate late-session trading.
"It's not hard from a logistical point of view," to staff an off-hours session, Pasternak said. The trouble is, he said, he's not seeing much demand after 5:30 p.m. to prompt a continual "post-quote" market.
Knight's stock was off 1 1/2 to 28 1/8 in recent trading, erasing an earlier near 5 percent gain on continued talk that Knight is a potential buyout target for Merrill Lynch (MER: news, msgs) -- talk that Pasternak brushed off.
"The company's not for sale; I've said many times that we operate best as an independent company," Pasternak said.
Knight signed an agreement in late August to clear and settle all of its trades through Merrill's clearing subsidiary Broadcort Capital.
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