As Of July 11th, "Long Term Options" On The S&P/MIB Index Will Start Trading On The IDEM, The Italian Derivatives Market

As of July 11th, 2005 IDEM, the Italian Derivatives Market managed by Borsa Italiana will introduce "long term options" which allow investors to take positions on the S&P/MIB index with maturities of up to three years.

The new contracts to be listed will have semi-annual expiries on the June and December cycle.

For options which will expire within the next 12 months (the first 6 expiries), 15 exercise prices will be available on both the call and the put series, with a 500 index points interval.

With regards to the four new maturities over one year, at minimum of 21 prices will be available on the call as well as on the put series with intervals of 1,000 index points.

These new products are an important step in the innovation strategy of the IDEM market and will offer new opportunities to market participants.

In the first semester of 2005, trading on the IDEM increased significantly.

On June 14th, the IDEM reached a new volume record: 269,369 contracts were traded for a total turnover of €9,6 billion (the previous record was set on May 2001).

As for index products, new all-time highs have been achieved in terms of volumes: FIB, the futures contract on the S&P/MIB index, has traded 57,183 contracts on March 16th, 2005 while MIBO, the options contracts on the S&P/MIB index, traded 28,805 standard contracts on April 18th.