Mark Nienstedt, the president of Instinet, the global electronic agency brokerage for securities owned by Reuters, resigned just hours before Instinet posted a net loss in its results for the fourth quarter of 2002.

Instinet reported a "tough" fourth quarter, after restructuring costs and lower transaction fees took a big bite out of revenues. Fourth quarter 2002 resulted in a net loss of $112m (€104.5m), compared with net income of $46m from fourth quarter 2001.