Feb 6 (Reuters) - Bond trading platform MarketAxess

Holdings ( MKTX ) reported a 6% decline in fourth-quarter profit

on Thursday, partly due to an unrealized loss on its U.S.

Treasury investments.

The hit countered gains from higher commissions MarketAxess ( MKTX )

pocketed as investors proactively optimized portfolios to manage

risk, boosting trading volumes.

Shifting expectations of interest rate cuts kept the

Treasury market active as investors assessed the impact of

inflation data and a new administration.

Total credit average daily volumes - a measure of the

average daily number of bond transactions on MarketAxess' ( MKTX )

platform - rose 6% from a year ago to $13.88 billion.

Total fourth quarter revenue rose 3% to $202.4 million from

a year earlier, helped by a 2% rise in commissions, which form

the largest part of the company's revenue mix.

Inflationary pressures from U.S. President Donald Trump's

tariffs and the possibility of budget deficits due to potential

tax cuts may delay future rate cuts from the Fed, further

boosting uncertainty and volumes in the fixed income markets.

The company, however, reported a $1.9 million unrealized

loss on U.S. Treasury investments, compared with a gain of $0.9

million in the fourth quarter of 2023.

It reported a profit of $65.1 million or $1.73 per share for

the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with $69.6 million or

$1.84 per share from the year-ago period.

MarketAxess ( MKTX ) operates an electronic exchange platform

used by institutional investors and broker-dealer firms to trade

U.S. treasuries, corporate bonds and other fixed-income

securities.

The average daily trading volume for U.S. government bonds

on MarketAxess' ( MKTX ) platform was up 61% from a year ago at $25.95

billion during the fourth quarter.

The quarterly average daily trading volume for emerging

markets credit climbed 18% from a year ago to $3.46 billion.