TRADING DOWN SLIGHTLY ON OCTOBER BUT VOLUMES SINCE JANUARY AT A RECORD HIGH

Paris, 5 December 2000 - In November, trading on Euronext Paris derivatives markets reached a record high at well over 219 million lots since the beginning of the year (219,351,153). At month end, activity was up more than 16.6% on the full-year total in 1999.

A total of 20 million contracts were traded in November, representing a decline of 6.7% from the previous month. In contrast, open interest was up 16.6% on October at 33.1 million lots.

While trading in equity and index derivatives was down 7.8% to 17.5 million contracts, open interest was up nearly 17% over the same period. Open interest in short-term equity options reached a record high of 16.7 million lots. New short and long-term options were launched on Cap Gemini shares on November 6 and on Thomson Multimedia on November 27, raising the total number of stocks represented by Euronext Paris options to 109.

In interest-rate derivatives, nearly 2.5 million Euro-notional futures were traded during the month, showing a modest 1.8% rise from the previous month.

Finally, overall trading in commodity derivatives declined 7.9%, although there was a healthy 68% rebound for maize futures. Total open interest was nonetheless up 18.7%.

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