From this date, two options classes will be listed on the MONEP and referenced on the CAC40 Master Unit and the Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50SM Master Unit, the two most liquid trackers currently traded on Euronext.
Indeed, the CAC40 Master Unit and the Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50SM Master Unit, launched on 22 January and 21 March 2001, have respectively reached an average daily turnover of €56.67 million and €38.61 million in 2002, increasing by 49% and 76% compared to 2001.
The options on trackers will be short term American style options, and will be traded on the Continuous Group on NSC-VO system (until migrating on LiffeConnect system on 14 April 2003). They will offer physical delivery of the underlying.
BNP Paribas Arbitrage, Société Générale Option Europe and Timber Hill Europe AG have been appointed as specialist market makers to ensure these options' liquidity.
Trackers, or Exchange Traded Funds (ETF), are index funds that offer the performance of an index and ally the advantages of the shares (simplicity, continuous quotation), to those of the traditional funds (access to a vast choice of shares, geographic and sector-based diversifications). Euronext is the European leader for listing and trading trackers, holding a 46.6% European market share in turnover over the year 2002.
