NYSE-owner ICE profit rises on high trading volume

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpReuters New York Stock Exchangeowner Intercontinental Exchange posted a rise in firstquarter profit on Thursday, driven by higher trading volumes in several asset classes as interest hike expectations and the Ukraine war raised market volatility.p

pDemand for portfolio protection grew as skyhigh inflation, the RussiaUkraine war and expectations of interest rate hikes roiled markets.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pThe exchange operator said on Wednesday it planned to acquire Black Knight in a cashandstock deal that values the software and data analytics firm at 16 billion, including debt.p

pIntercontinental Exchanges first quarter performance follows strong earnings by rivals CBOE Global Markets Inc and CME Group Inc that sailed past Wall Street estimates as elevated volatility drove up transaction volumes of options and futures.p

pNet income attributable to the company was up nearly 2 at 657 million, or 1.16 per share, for the three months ended March 31 from 646 million, or 1.14 per share, a year earlier.p

pExcluding onetime items, ICE, which runs futures and equities exchanges as well as clearing houses, data services and a mortgage origination business, earned 1.43 per share, edging past analysts mean estimate of 1.42 a share, according to Refinitiv IBES data.p

pTotal revenue, excluding transactionbased expenses, rose nearly 6 to 1.9 billion, as revenue from exchanges business rose 2, fixed income and data services rose 8.7 while mortgage tech arm fell 13.5. p

p Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru Editing by Rashmi Aichp

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