This significant increase can be explained by more active options trading. Options contracts are becoming increasingly popular among investors; in the last two months total options open interest has increased more than twofold, from 82 to 178 thousand.
Specifically, open interest for "LUKOil" options exceeded that for "LUKOil" futures. For RAO "UES of Russia", the segment leader, the share of options amounts to 42% of total open interest for options and futures contracts on this security. Overall, options account for more than 32% of total open interest.
"We are very glad to see options open interest grow", - says Roman Gorunov, the head of the RTS Stock Exchange Derivatives Department, "since the development of the options segment of the market is one of our top priorities. Earlier this year we developed and implemented the new portfolio margining system that significantly increased market effectiveness. We are also working on expanding our product line".
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 headquartered in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Ekaterinburg, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Kazan and Abakan are FORTS registered members. They trade 8 futures contracts and 3 options.
