Stock markets in September experienced their biggest gain in activity since May.
Daily volume jumped 19.1% last month. The average number of shares traded reached 4.8 billion, up from 4.0 billion in August, according to statistics from Nasdaq, NYSE Euronext, Direct Edge and BATS Global Markets.
But the stats, compiled by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, showed volume still down 21.5% from a year ago. In September 2011, 6.1 billion shares were traded on an average day.
The biggest prior one-month gain this year was in four months ago, when volume hit 5.1 billion shares a day in May, up 22.2% from 4.5 million in April.
But, across the board, the exchanges are still seeing depressed activity.
The New York Stock Exchange is off 30.9% from a year ago, at 1.2 billion shares. Its NYSE Arca and NYSE MKT exchanges are off 49.3%, to 219.0 million shares, according to SIFMA.
Nasdaq is off 9.7%, to 1.8 billion shares, year over year. Direct Edge, which operates two exchanges, and BATS, which also operates two, are off about the general average.
Year over year, BATS is down 21.0%, Direct Edge 17.5%.
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