KCBT Year-To-Date Volume Remains Slightly Ahead Of Last Year

Trading volume at the Kansas City Board of Trade through the end of September continues ahead of 2000 volume during the same time period, but lost some ground in light of fewer trading days. Trading in the Value Line' and ISDEX' contracts was cancelled on four days in September, while wheat futures and wheat options trading was cancelled for two trading sessions. The terrorist attacks on September 11 in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania led to some cancelled trading sessions across the nation.

In spite of fewer trading sessions, the Value Line futures contract managed a 96.1 percent volume increase when compared to September 2000 and a 83.7 percent increase when compared to last month.

Open interest gains were seen in the wheat options contract when compared to last month. Open interest currently stands at 22,480 contracts, compared to 18,349 contracts on Aug. 31, 2001.

Year-to-date exchange volume is up 2.1 percent compared to 2000 figures through the month of September. The wheat futures contract is very close to even, while wheat options volume is 27.9 percent ahead of last year and Value Line futures is 44.1 percent ahead of last year.