February 3, 1998

I- MONEP equity derivatives

Contract volume in equity derivatives stood at 1,337,185 contracts in January 1998 on the MONEP, up 7% from December. Open interest at month-end rose 26.1% to 1,528,798 contracts.

Options
CAC 40 options showed strong growth compared with December volumes: the CAC 40 long-term option rose 42.6% in number of contracts and 31.7% in premium.

Long-term equity options set new monthly records, with 64,000 contracts and FRF 326.3 million in premium. Month-end open interest reached a record 629,835 contracts. The most traded long-term equity option was Axa-UAP, with 20,045 contracts. The most traded short-term equity option was Paribas, with 44,999 contracts.

Futures
Contract volume in CAC40 futures stood at 536,336 contracts (up 9.7 %). The contract price reached an all-time high of 3158 on January 30 (delivery month: January 1998).

II- MATIF interest-rate derivatives

January saw business up 17.4% on December 1997, with a total of 4,703,104 interest-rate futures traded. Open interest at month-end stood at 813,444 contracts, a rise of 9.6%.

Products based on the Notional bond showed the sharpest rally, with open interest for the future and the option up 22% and 53.5%, respectively.

This is all the more significant in that volatility was low.

III- MATIF commodity futures

In January, trading in both 45 Icumsa sugar and rapeseed futures picked up sharply; the rapeseed contract reached a record high on January 20 at DM571.0 per metric tonne.

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