LIFFE trades £194BN per day in July 1999

The nominal value of contracts traded on the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE) averaged £194 billion daily during July 1999. Hugh Freedberg, LIFFE's Chief Executive, said: "July saw a 5% year on year increase in value from July 1998 and a 9% increase in all short term interest rate (STIR) products. The volume in the FTSE 100 Index, now traded on LIFFE CONNECT™, LIFFE's new electronic trading platform, saw an increase of 21% in futures and 24% in options, year on year." January to end July LIFFE traded 74,654,717 contracts. Total exchange open interest, a key indicator of liquidity as well as long term use of the market, increased to 6,302,267 contracts. Open interest in Euro money market products at 2,318,486 contracts reflects a continuous upward trend.