London Stock Exchange Market Close Ceremony

Joining one of London Stock Exchange's markets can often be an important milestone in a company's journey and to mark the event, companies and issuers are invited to 'Open or Close the Market' each day at 08:00 and 16:30 at London Stock Exchange Group's headquarters in Paternoster Square, where they are hosted by a senior representative of London Stock Exchange Group to celebrate the monumental occasion. 

In 2011 Framestore created the real-time graphics for the Market Open ceremony for the London Stock Exchange. The work is one of the largest real-time graphics of its type in the world with over 500 high-definition LED screens, a giant central illuminated cube and a bespoke ‘Market Ceremony’ mechanism. Together this makes up the three-story installation, where market movement and prices are displayed throughout the day using real-time data. Following the success of the Market Open, LSE approached Framestore to create a digital extension to the Market Close.

To visualise the end of trading on the world's most international market the Framestore team needed to find a creative solution to make the vast amounts of data as engaging as the Market Opening ceremony, and although the Market Close installation needed to be a continuation of the Market Open ceremony the brief was to have a clear distinction between the two whilst creating a smooth transition between them. 

For Market Open the team used a stellar concept where a ‘big bang’ marks the start of trading with stock tickers visualised as stars orbiting around a central light, which rise and fall in correlation to how the stock was fairing throughout the day. To create the seamless transition to Market Close Framestore took elements from the main galaxy and presented them in a different way. 

“During the closing ceremony the day time red and green rings become lines going to the centre, the centre then reacts to this stellar activity like a solar flare,” said Jonny Dixon Global Head of Production, Labs. “The stock prices begin to fix and lines connect and disconnect the stocks as they pass each-other, and geometric forms get created from these lines until the final price, where they will all be locked in place.”

On the Presenter Screen old star maps were used to create an engaging interface. “The centre clock will shift side to side during the start of the auction, depending on whether the market is more in red or green that day,” said Jonny Dixon, Global Head of Production, Labs. “The stock market will rotate around its respective ring and if there is activity on a stock, its ring will glow.” 

In the last 30 seconds, as the auction draws to a close, the rings gravitate together to the centre of the screen, until the final price where the rings lock in concentric circles. Additionally, the team added a glow on the rings to symbolise that stock has closed for the final price. The circles of the clock also act as hands on a clock; the larger of the three small outer circles goes round the inner ring representing the hour. 

This Market Close visualisation has rounded off the spectacle of this important part of the day, complementing the Market Open ceremony and allowing businesses to enjoy the experience of their first day in one of London Stock Exchange's markets in a memorable and unique way.