Euronext Paris Derivatives Markets: Seasonal Letup In Business Pace In July - Record Open Interest At Month End Steep Rise In Commodity Contracts - Overall Rise In Business For The First Seven Months

Trading on Euronext Paris derivatives markets eased in July after reaching its second highest level ever in June. A total of 26,038,924 contracts were traded in July. At the end of the month, open interest topped 50 million contracts, reaching a new record of 52.138 million. Trading in the first seven months totalled nearly 172 million contracts, showing a rise of 21.03% from 142 million in the same period of last year.

Business in equity and index futures and options suffered a seasonal decline of 9%, with the number of contracts traded averaging 1,164,849 a day. Yet volumes more than doubled on a year, showing a rise of 122.9% from the same month of 2000.

Open interest in equity and index derivatives was up 11.2% from the previous month, reaching a new record of 52,009,752 futures and options.

Turning to fixed-income derivatives, 374,694 futures were traded, representing a decline of 79.8% from the previous month. Open interest in the Euro 5-year was e up continuing the rise which followed the introduction of market making for the contract in May.

In the commodity sector, daily average trading showed a rise of 88.3% from June to July and 30.04% on a year in the first seven months. Trading in the maize future rose a steep 93.2% on a month in July, with the total for the first seven months showing a rise of 170% to set the daily average at 233 contracts over the period.