The New York Stock Exchange has welcomed a move to let members trade a broader range of debt securities on its electronic platform, saying it would be 'a big win' for bond investors. Expanding its fixed-income business could boost NYSE growth as it prepares to merge with the Archipelago exchange and become a public company.

The NYSE's fixed income business would build from a low base, with only about $5m (€4.1m) of bonds trading each day in 2004 - down from a peak of $50m in 1991. By contrast, MarketAxess, a prominent electronic bond trading system, last year saw average volume of more than $700m a day.