UK online Forex, CFD and spreadbetting broker CMC Markets plc (LON:CMCX) has had somewhat of a rocky start as a public company. The company’s shares dropped 5% on Monday to close at £2.28 in their first full day of trading on the London Stock Exchange, following CMC’s IPO last week at £2.40 per share.
Nearly 4 million CMC shares changed hands in Monday trading.
In fairness to CMC, Monday was a fairly rough day overall in the equity markets, with the FTSE 100 index off nearly 3% in what is clearly becoming a very risk-off environment for traders in all markets.
Many analysts had projected a fairly quiet and less volatile trading week, since China’s markets are closed all week for the Chinese lunar new year – and it had mainly been China-focused volatility which led the markets in recent weeks.
Also in fairness to CMC, it is quite impressive that they even completed their IPO at all in this topsy-turvy market environment, which has seen very slow IPO activity overall. New offerings by companies which are new to investors typically do not fare well when markets are in turmoil.
Over time, CMC and its share price will be judged by the company’s results, and its ability to deliver consistent and profitable growth.