| Trading volume up 32% in ParisBourse
derivatives markets Paris, 3 February 2000 - More than 19 million contracts (19,037,272) were traded on the de ParisBourseSA derivatives markets, a 32.2% increase relative to December. This is the largest rise in number of contracts since September 1999. The Euro Notional futures contract showed the strongest rise, with average daily trading volume up five-fold compared with December 1999 (139,644 contracts per day vs 25,582). Open interest(1) rose more than 150%, to 76,289 contracts at end-January from 29,894 at end-December. With an average quantity of 150 at 1 tick (minimum price fluctuation) on the best limit and and a 1,250 average quantity on the first 5 limits, the Euro Notionnel bond future enjoys instantaneous liquidity. Euro Notional options recorded a trading volume of 2,600. Equity and index derivatives recorded a 16.4% rise in trading volume. Volume in the CAC40 option was up 20.4% from a month earlier and the CAC40 future rose 8.3%. Investors are increasingly interested in futures on the Dow Jones STOXXSM sector indexes, products introduced last year and unique in Europe: 1,210 contracts were traded this month, up from 295 in December 1999. The product range will be expanded with the 21 February launch of new futures contracts on the following sector indexes which are narrowly defined to allow investors a tight focus: Dow Jones STOXXSM L&M Bank, Energy, and Telecommunications. With average daily volume of around 1,000 contracts (50,000 metric tons traded), the commodities sector is showing a strong start for the year. Trading volume in the Rapeseed contract was mainly marked by the expiry of the February 2000 contract. The final number of contratcs traded on the ParisBourse derivatives markets in 1999 is 188,084,172. (1) The net open interest figure reported by the information system used for ParisBourseSBF SA interest-rate futures is calculated by netting each clearer's long and short positions for all of its clearing account categories (house, client, etc.). (2) Each day, ParisBourseSBF SA calculates a liquidity indicator which takes account of the best price spread and the average bid and ask quantities. This indicator provides a measure of quality of service relative to competing markets. PRESS OFFICE : |
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