Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., the largest U.S. exchange by volume, reported on Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit increased 35.2 percent to 112.1 million U.S. dollars, or 53 cents a share, beating analysts' estimates.

The New York-based company said in a statement that net income topped 36.8 million dollars, or 17 cents per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2008 and 319.9 million dollars, or 1.58 dollars per diluted share, for the full year of 2008.

Nasdaq OMX CEO Robert Greifeld said that Nasdaq will cut operating expenses next year to squeeze out more profit from its 5.05-billion-dollar purchases last year of Sweden's OMX AB and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.

Net revenue totaled 402.6 million dollars in the fourth quarter of 2008 as revenue from trading more than doubled, fueled by European equities and U.S. options. Listings contributed 82.3 million dollars, while OMX's trading-software business generated 31.5 million dollars.

Nasdaq OMX's main rivals have seen trading revenue declining. NYSE Euronext, which operates the New York Stock Exchange and four bourses in Europe, reported this month that net equity trading revenue fell 5.1 percent. London Stock Exchange revenue from trading has dropped for two consecutive quarters, declining 13 percent in the period ended Dec. 31 from a year earlier.

Nasdaq OMX gained 1.9 dollars, or 9.06 percent, to 22.86 a share in New York trading after the earnings report.

Source: Xinhua