Fees earned by Nasdaq OMX from its equities business fell year on year by one-third, as a five-year low in trading of US stocks forced the transatlantic exchange operator to turn to other markets for revenues.

The exchange group today reported that net revenues from equities trading fell to $47m in the third quarter of this year, down by 30% from the same period last year, when it made $67m. The drop came on the back of US average daily trading volume at the exchange falling to a five-year low of six billion, which was down 32% from 8.8 billion in the same period year last year.