Eurex Trading Volume Rises Again in July

Eurex is continuing to post increases in turnover. About 35.6 million contracts were traded in the world's largest derivatives market in July, the second highest monthly volume to date. Eurex statistics show that volume increased about 60.5 percent compared with the same month of last year. Total turnover for the first seven months of 1999 exceeded 213 million contracts, about 82 million more than the number traded during the same period of 1998. In terms of monthly volume, the BUND future was the number one product at Eurex with over 14.2 million contracts traded, about 61 percent higher than in July 1998. The BUND future is still the world's most heavily traded futures contract. Trading in options on the BUND future was also very successful in July with 2.9 million contracts changing hands, a 320 percent increase over the number traded during the same month of last year. Extremely high volumes were also traded on the BOBL and SCHATZ futures in July. The BOBL future, with 5.45 million contracts traded, posted its second-best monthly turnover to date, and increased more than 140 percent over the same month of 1998. The SCHATZ futures even set a new record in July with over 2.1 million contracts traded. The increase over the number traded in July 1998 (746,000 contracts) was 186 percent. Trading in derivatives on index products at Eurex rose by more than 72 percent year on year, with about 5.3 million of these contracts traded in July. Trading in the Dow Jones Euro-STOXX 50 is still rising; over 650,000 contracts were traded in July.