IG Share News (IGG)

* CMC expects NOI to be at the top end of mkt view

* Company says Q3 client activity eased from early 2020
levels

* Shares up marginally in morning trade
(Adds share move, executive comments from the call)

By Indranil Sarkar and Muvija M

Jan 20 (Reuters) - Online trading platform CMC Markets
said on Wednesday client activity in the third quarter
eased compared with earlier in the financial year when market
volatility amid the pandemic was the highest since the 2008
financial crisis.

CMC and other main industry players IG and Plus500
have seen profits surge on strong volumes driven by
major macroeconomic events including the pandemic, the U.S. 2020
presidential election and uncertainty over a Brexit trade deal.

"We wouldn't necessarily expect this heightened levels of
volatility to continue and we don't plan for the future based on
these elevated levels," Deputy Chief Executive Officer David
Fineberg told Reuters on a call.

As major countries begin vaccinating their populations this
year, some of that frenzy in the markets has arguably come down
as reflected in the CBOE Volatility Index, which has
remained at levels significantly lower than a peak hit in
October.

CMC pointed to a healthy pipeline of projects that will
drive new revenue streams separate from its main stockbroking
and contracts for difference (CFD) businesses.

"The company had a very good underlying profitability prior
to these elevated levels of market activity, so we are very
confident and positive about the future," Fineberg said.

CMC, which through its platform enables clients to trade up
to 10,000 financial instruments, expects annual net operating
income to be at the top end of a 370.2-387.5 million pounds
market consensus. It reported 252 million pounds in its last
fiscal year.

Shares were up 0.3% at 4.3 pounds in late morning trading,
following a 167% surge in 2020.

The company said its investment in platform technology
continued to attract and retain premium clients, and that its
platforms had no outages in November when Pfizer announced
positive results from its COVID-19 vaccine trial.

($1 = 0.7318 pounds)

(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips and Bernadette Baum)