FORTS: III Quarter Results

In the III quarter of 2003 (July 1st – September 30th, 2003) trading volume reached7 948 thousand contracts or 61,1 million rubles in underlying value (quarter II showed 9 389 thousand contracts and 54,3 million rubles in underlying value). Total open interest as of September 30, 2003, stood at 619 thousand contracts or 3 897 million rubles in underlying value, compared with 2 433 million rubles in underlying value and 354 thousand contracts

FORTS, a unified derivatives market operating since September 19, 2001, is based on trading and settlement technologies and software that were implemented at and have been successfully used by St. Petersburg Stock Exchange for 7 years. RTS acts as the trading system and the clearinghouse on the integrated market. 84 companies from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Ekaterinburg, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Kazan and Abakan FORTS participants trade 8 futures contracts and 3 options.