These 25 contracts, added to the existing 40, mean that from 14 May 2001 LIFFE will list a total of 65 USFs on global stocks with a combined market capitalisation of ? 7.2 trillion.
The new contracts include listings in three new sectors: Automobiles, Media and Retailers, increasing the scope of sector based hedging opportunities for investors.
Nick Carew Hunt, LIFFE’s Market Secretary said, “The choice of these particular contracts as the latest Universal Stock Futures follows LIFFE’s objective of meeting market demand by providing a single point of access, clearing and settlement for a global range of highly capitalised and actively traded underlying stocks.
The first twelve weeks of trading have been extremely encouraging with over 326,200 Universal Stock Futures contracts traded, the equivalent of 87 million of the underlying shares. Open interest has been rising steadily since launch and has already reached more than 80,000 lots.”
