Paris, November 9th, 1998 -- It is now exactly ten years since the launch of the CAC 40 index future and short-term CAC 40 index options. Since then, a total of 53 million futures and 42 million short and long-term options have been traded.

Index options trading have been fully automated since March 6 this year and the CAC 40 future since April 8.

Over the past ten years, the CAC 40 index future has developed into a mature contract with an undisputed international reputation.

A mature contract with great potential

The CAC 40 future was launched in the wake of the 1987 equity market slump to meet institutional investors' need for hedging instruments, and saw spectacular growth in its first few years. This surge peaked in 1994, a record-breaking year with 7,464,449 lots traded and an all-time monthly high of 825,582 lots in September.

Following two years of consolidation in 1995 and 1996, the contract gathered renewed momentum in early 1997 and has gained further ground with the approach of the single currency. Since the beginning of this year, it has benefited from portfolio reallocations in favor of equities which have resulted from a decline in bond yields in the run-up to the euro. Over the first ten months of this year, open interest was more than 18% higher than in the same period of 1997, and the average amount traded daily was 32% higher than in 1997. 1/2

International recognition

The CAC 40 index future is one of the leading derivative contracts in Europe. Since the beginning of the year, it has been Europe's top performing index contract in terms of number of contracts traded and second in terms of value of trades.

Non residents have consistently held around 50% of open interest over the past ten years, illustrating the product's highly international appeal.

Looking ahead, the CAC 40 index future should benefit in full from the advantages of electronic trading and the development of a Europe-wide equity market. It has recently been rounded out with futures on the Dow Jones Stoxx® pan-European indices launched in June this year.

Contacts:
Matif SA: A. Bouvier-Darpy - Tel: +33 1 40 28 83 89
Monep SA: S. Laforge - Tel: + 33 1 49 27 18 60
Paris Markets Ltd : Nathalie Boschat - Tel. : + 44 171 332 59 20