CFTC Staff Allows the Osaka Securities Exchange’s Futures Contract Based On The Russell/Nomura Prime Index To Be Offered And Sold In The United States

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC’s) Office of General Counsel (OGC) issued a no-action letter on March 14, 2005, permitting the offer and sale in the United States of the Osaka Securities Exchange’s (OSE’s) futures contract based on the Russell/Nomura Prime Index (RNP).

The RNP is a broad-based, free-float capitalization-weighted security index derived from 1,000 of the most highly capitalized and actively traded common stocks listed on all the stock exchanges in Japan. Based on data supplied by OSE, the total adjusted market capitalization of the RNP was approximately U.S. $1.74 trillion as of September 30, 2004.

• For information on foreign exchange-traded security index futures contracts pending no-action approval with the CFTC's OGC, see the Foreign Instrument Approvals & Exemptions Backgrounderat www.cftc.gov/opa/backgrounder/opapart30.htm.