Trading activity on the Toronto Stock Exchange continued to gather speed during March.

The exchange recorded gains in everything from value and volume to number of transactions, according to statistics released Thursday by TSX Group Inc.

Trading value rose to $123 billion in March, up 23% from $100 billion a year ago and up 5.5% from $117 billion in February of this year, TSX Group said.

March saw 7.3 million transactions, more than both February’s tally of 6.7 million and the year-earlier total of 4.8 million. The volume of trades — that is, the number of shares changing hands — reached 7.7 billion last month, more than the 6.2 billion in March 2005 and February’s level of 7 billion.

The number of new issuers rose to 24 from 17 a year ago while the number of initial public offerings climbed to 15 in March from 13.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished the first three months of 2006 with a 7.4% gain, its best first-quarter performance since 1999. It rose 2.7% or 315 points in March to 12,110.61.