Exchange Mania

Does anyone else get the feeling that there are too many exchanges opening up? Reminds me of when the Sydney Futures Exchange attempted to trade gold. They got wipped and smacked around because only one, true market could exist. Sure, EFP might be ok, but too many exchanges means too many markets to watch and try to arbitrage.

I will bet that by mid next year we will have only two active exchanges. The others may stay open, but I feel that there will be a real drive from players to focus on one or two. Afterall, there is the OTC market. = soxnoxrox@fastmail.co.uk

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Two new exchanges join the emissions market this week, with Dutch company New Values launching CO2 trading Wednesday and Powernext starting Friday, to bring the total number of European CO2 exchanges to five.

New Values launched CO2 trading Wednesday on its Climex platform, with clearing offered through APX. New Values is the fourth electronic platform to offer E.U. emissions allowances to European companies.

Dutch utility Essent NV (ESS.YY) started trading activity Wednesday morning with a 5,000-ton trade at EUR22.50/ton, a source at the company said.

A total of six companies are currently signed up to the new exchange, and another 12 are in talks, New Values said.

The exchange offers forward contracts and continuous spot trading and has partnered with the Spanish platform SendeCO2, expected to open soon.

French power bourse Powernext will launch CO2 products Friday. Nine companies - Accord Energy Trading, a unit of Centrica PLC (CNA.LN), Electrabel SA/NV, Endesa (ELE), Gaselys, Societe Generale SA, SNET, Total SA (TOT), Carbon Capital Markets, and Greenstream - have signed up to start, Powernext said.

The Powernext platform is the product of a partnership between Powernext, Euronext N.V. (24151.AE), and Caisse des Depots et Consignations.

Nord Pool, EEX and ECX have already begun exchange trading of EUAs, and Austrian exchange EXAA is expected to come in Tuesday.