LIFFE Trades GBP227 Billion Per Day in February 1999

The London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE) traded an average daily nominal value of GBP227 billion in February 1999, up 10% year-on-year. Brian Williamson, LIFFE's Chairman said: "Following the voluntary conversion of existing Euro Libor open interest into the Euribor, the Exchange's Three Month Euribor contracts are continuing to see growth with open interest now at over 1000 billion (1,070,056 contracts), an increase of 596 billion (596,894 contracts) since January 1999. The total underlying interest in all the Euro money market contracts at the end of the month exceeded 2000 billion (2,142,619 contracts). "With the unanimous approval of the corporate restructure at the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) last week, the Exchange can now respond more effectively to competition and the needs of our customers by becoming a profit-driven and commercial organisation." LIFFE's individual equity options, traded on LIFFE CONNECT™, saw a year-on-year increase in trading volume of 19% for the second month running. Average daily volume for equity options on LIFFE CONNECT™ was 16,687 contracts in February. LIFFE's soft commodity products saw a year-on-year increase in trading volume of 38% with an average daily volume of 27,266 contracts traded. Open interest, a good indicator of liquidity and long-term use of the market, settled at 6,544,154 contracts, valued at GBP2,896 billion (Euro equivalent EUR4,215 billion) on 26 February. .