CFTC Staff Allows ASX Futures Exchange Pty Limited's Futures Contracts Based On The S&P/ASX 200 Index And The S&P/ASX 50 Index To Be Offered And Sold In The United States

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) Office of General Counsel issued a no-action letter on July 24, 2002, permitting the offer and sale in the United States of futures contracts based on the S&P/ASX 200 Index and the S&P/ASX 50 Index, traded on the Australian-based ASX Futures Exchange Pty Limited (ASXF).

The S&P/ASX 200 and the S&P/ASX 50 are both broad-based, modified capitalization-weighted composite stock indices owned and managed by Standard & Poors, under license to ASXF. The S&P/ASX 200 is composed of 200 of the largest stocks listed for trading on the Australian Stock Exchange. The S&P/ASX 50 consists of the top 50 stocks by market capitalization contained in the S&P/ASX 200.

Based on data supplied by ASXF, the total market capitalizations of the S&P/ASX 200 Index and the S&P/ASX 50 Index were U.S. $311.9 billion and U.S. $262.9 billion, respectively, as of January 31, 2002.