Eurex Posts Further Increases in April - Dow Jones Euro-STOXX on Continuing Favourable Trend

Eurex, the European derivatives market, is showing further growth in trading volume, with 26.5 million contracts traded in April, a 26 percent increase over the number recorded in April 1998 as indicated in Eurex figures. Total trading volume for the first four months of 1999 amounted to more than 110 million contracts, about 40 million more than the number traded during the same period of last year. This represents growth of 55 percent. The BUND future was the month's highest-volume Eurex product, with 10.4 million contracts traded. Contract volume grew about 54 percent over the number traded during the same month of last year. The BUND future remained the world's most heavily traded derivatives contract in April. Trading in options on the BUND future was also especially favourable last month, with about 1.8 million contracts traded, an increase of more than 750 percent as compared with the monthly total one year ago. Trading in the Dow Jones Euro-STOXX 50 at Eurex is still buoyant. The derivatives market statistics show that 360,000 contracts in futures and options changed hands in April 1999, bringing the total for 1999 up to more than one million futures and about 380,000 options traded. The Eurex market share in these products climbed to more than 95 percent in April.