April 23 (Reuters) – Nasdaq reported a rise in its first-quarter profit on Thursday, as the exchange operator gained from higher trading volumes boosted by investors looking to rebalance their portfolios in an uncertain macroeconomic environment.
The company reported a profit of $519 million, or 91 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, compared with $395 million, or 68 cents, in the year earlier.
The year started on a strong footing, but worries in the technology sector about artificial intelligence weighing on companies’ workflows and profits dampened investor sentiment on the tech-heavy exchange, as markets speculated about a possible bubble in the industry.
Escalations in the Middle East also spilled into the markets late in the quarter, as price swings forced investors to rejig their portfolios to hedge losses. Market volatility benefits exchanges because it drives up trading volumes, which contributes directly to companies’ top lines.
The benchmark S&P 500 index lost 4.6% in the quarter.
The company’s market services revenue ‍from trading grew 13% to $317 million in the reported quarter, helped by record U.S. cash equities and U.S equity options volumes, benefiting from record industry volumes.
(Reporting by Pritam Biswas and Prakhar Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
