Credit crisis drives trading in financial CDS

The banking and financial services sectors had the most active trading volumes of credit default swaps (CDS) in the US in January, according to GFI, a New York-based inter-dealer broker.

The most actively traded were Countrywide Home Loans, Washington Mutual, Fannie Mae, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch, according to GFI’s monthly credit derivatives report.

The telecoms sector was again the most dominant in Europe, led by Deutsche Telecom, Telecom Italia and British Telecom. Banking remained one of the most active sectors, followed by the auto manufacturing sector, with Gazprom entering the most active list for the first time.

Turkey, Russia and Ukraine were the three most active sovereigns, followed by South Korea and Philippines, according to GFI.

In Asia, the most active sectors were banking and financial services, led by Bank TuranAlem, Aiful and ACOM, with JSC Kazkommertsbank making the list for the eight month in a row. Nippon Steel led activity in the steel sector, which joined the most active categories.