The American Stock Exchange announced that it listed 33 new exchange-traded funds, 52 structured products and 37 new equities in the first half of 2006.

The Amex said it experienced a 30% increase in average market capitalization of new listings in the first half of 2006 compared to the entire year of 2005. It saw a significant increase in the number of initial public offerings this year, with 16 IPOs, almost double last year’s first six months.

Volume in Amex equities rose to over 7.5 billion shares in the first half of the year, a 49% increase from the same time period in 2005. It also garnered a total of 99,016,164 options contracts traded, and an average daily volume of 792,129. In equity options trades, which make up the majority of the Amex’s options trading volume, the Amex traded 93,892,340 million contracts and an average daily volume of 751,139.

In May, the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved Amex’s initiative to allow companies listed on other markets to dual list their securities on the Amex at significantly lower initial and annual listings fees. The ability to dual list on the Amex will provide more companies the opportunity to take advantage of the specialist-auction market structure and the unique services available only at the Amex, it noted.

Total ETF listings on the Amex rose to 183 and total assets increased to $236 billion. And, with 52 new structured products listed in the first half of 2006, the Amex Capital Markets Group is positioned to list more than 100 new products for a fifth consecutive year. As of June 30, the Amex traded a total of 382 structured products.

The Amex also added nine new closed-end fund listings with total assets of $2 billion in the first half of 2006. Total Amex closed-end fund listings rose to 150 with total assets of $30 billion.

The firm said that it made great strides in implementing its technology initiatives in the first half of 2006. The launch of the new Auction and Electronic Market Integration platform is scheduled for the second half of this year, following approval from the SEC. As a result of the SEC’s delay until February 2007 of the roll out of Regulation NMS, the Amex will launch a pre-Regulation NMS version of the AEMI electronic trading platform. AEMI will be a state-of-the-art trading platform that will unite the best qualities of electronic and auction markets, it said.

In options, the Amex said that it has made significant improvements this year to increase capacity, reduce latencies and overall turnaround times in the Amex New Trading Environment platform.

“The American Stock Exchange began its transformation a year ago and the new leadership has committed itself to improving the regulatory and technology areas of the Exchange as well as providing our customers with the best services to grow their businesses,” said Neal Wolkoff, chairman and CEO. “I am confident that the Amex will see greater accomplishments in the second half of the year with continued focus in product innovation and the expansion of all our business lines.”