Eurex: Second-Highest Monthly Performance, 39.1 Million Contracts Traded

With volume of 39.1 million contracts traded in February, Eurex, the European derivatives market, recorded the second-highest turnover ever achieved by a derivatives exchange on a monthly basis, after 40.2 million contracts traded in January 2000. The February 2000 trading volume is 48.5 percent higher than the figure posted for the same month of last year. In February, the Bund future was again the world's most actively traded futures contract. Some 13.8 million contracts were traded at Eurex, corresponding to 22 percent growth in Bund futures trading year on year. In options on the Bund future, Eurex topped its February 1999 performance by more than 40 percent, with over 2.6 million contracts traded. Volume in the Bobl future has also increased, with more than 5.8 million contracts traded, 93 percent higher than the number traded during the same month of last year; and its second-best performance on a monthly basis to date. In the index derivatives segment, with more than 6.1 million contracts traded in February, Eurex achieved its third-best performance on a monthly basis, after 6.8 million contracts in September 1999 and 6.73 million in January. The Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50-Index derivatives were also again on a high level, with over 1.3 million contracts traded in futures and options, quadrupling the level achieved in the same month of last year. Of the Finnish products, the options on Nokia (31,000 contracts) and Sonera (16,000 contracts) were especially successful. A total of 58,000 contracts were traded on Finnish stock options in February, a 52 percent increase against the previous month. The stock options in SMI and DAX showed extremely good results: Compared with the February 1999 volume, the turnover in both product groups rose by more than 60 percent.