Eurex To Harmonise Trading Hours For Index Products - Twenty Five Percent Of Eurex Benchmark Products Are Traded From The USA

Eurex the world's largest international derivatives market announced that as of June 17 it is to harmonise trading hours for futures on the STOXX 50 Index as well as the sector indices STOXX Banks and Euro STOXX Banks with the 20:00 close for Euro STOXX benchmark futures. This means that all STOXX futures accepted for trading in the USA will be tradable until 20:00.

According to Eurex, this move was sparked by the ever-growing trading interest from the USA. As announced, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) admitted these STOXX Sector Index Products for trading in the USA for the first time in Q2. This means that all US participants of Eurex can trade these contracts directly from the USA, giving them broader access to the highest volume, most liquid market for European equity index derivatives. There are currently 61 Eurex participants currently trading directly from the USA.

Eurex also said that the liquidity of these products continues to rise, underlining the benchmark status of the Eurex products among European index products. Eurex is the dominant market for derivatives trading on the European STOXX equity indices with a market share of over 90 percent. During the first four months of 2002, Eurex turned over some 25 million STOXX contracts, more than twice the number traded during the same period in 2001.