Business Declines On Parisbourse SBF SA Derivatives Markets Overall Commodity Futures Up Sharply

A total of 14,947,519 lots changed hands on ParisBourse SBF SA derivatives markets in October, representing an 18% decline from September. This set the total for the first ten months at 155 million compared with 90 million for 1998 as a whole. Overall, trading in index and equity derivatives declined 17% from September, but open interest rose 23.6%. Trading in the CAC 40 future fell 6.7% to 1,939,279 lots for a daily average of 92,347, while open interest rose 13.4%. Turning to equity options, 4,925, 509 lots changed hands, with the five most heavily traded France Telecom, AXA, Total, Vivendi and Carrefour. Open interest rose 37.18%. Trading in futures and options on Dow Jones Stoxx® pan-European indices totaled 14,9994 and 8,569, respectively. Trading in fixed-income derivatives fell 52% from September, a quarterly delivery month, while open interest rose 10.3% The total for the Euro Notional future was 173,459 lots for a daily average of 8,260, while the total for the 3-month Euribor contracts was 101,461 and the average 4,831. Open interest rose 12% and 7.4%, respectively. In the commodity compartment, there was an overall rise of 48.3% in the number of contracts traded. The strongest performance came from rapeseed futures, with a total of 12,248 lots representing a rise of 27.8% from the previous month. The maize future made a highly encouraging start, with total of 3,105 lots traded for daily average of 148 in its first month on the market.