LIFFE Trades Record £301 Billion Per Day In September 2000

The London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (LIFFE) traded a record average daily nominal value of £301 billion (?433 billion) and a total value of £6,332 billion (? 9,118 billion) in September 2000. LIFFE has traded a nominal total value for the year of £50 trillion, maintaining its position as the world’s largest electronic exchange by value.

LIFFE’s September total volume of 13 million contracts was an increase of 28% above August and a rise of 24% year-on-year. This represents an average daily volume of 623,776 contracts for the month. LIFFE’s Chief Executive, Hugh Freedberg said, "Both total value and volumes for September were the highest we have seen this year with the average daily nominal value reaching over £300 billion. Short-term interest rate products remained strong with the Three Month Euribor futures and options both up 66% year-to-date.

Trading in equity products increased for the ninth consecutive month this year, up overall by 31% with individual equity options up by 61% compared to September 1999. Equity options and the FTSE 100 Index option both hit an all time daily high. With the announcement this month of a range of equity market initiatives we believe we will continue to see growth in this fast-expanding market."

 The following records were set in September 2000: Equity Options set a daily record of 53,254 on 22 September 2000 (previous daily record of 53,232 set on 9 May 2000) ; MSCI Pan-Euro Index Future set a daily record of 19,048 on 13 September 2000 (previous daily record of 6,017 set on 15 May 2000; FTSE 100 Index Option (ESX) set a daily record of 65,057 on 1 September 2000 (previous daily record of 58,621 set on 13 June 1997); LIFFE’s Three Month Euribor option set a new daily open interest record of 1,199,922 on 15 September 2000 (previous open interest record of 1,178,233 set on 19 June 2000); Euribor Mid Curve Option set a new daily open interest record of 104,660 on 18 September 2000 (previous daily open interest 91,294 on 31 August 2000); EuroPack set a daily open interest record of 2,813,932 on 18 September 2000 (previous daily open interest of 2,805,503 set on 13 March 2000); daily open interest record of 304,094 set on 25 August 2000); FTSE Eurotop 100 Index Future set a daily open interest record of 19,997 on 13 September 2000 (previous daily open interest record of 16,468 set on 10 December 1999); MSCI Pan-Euro Index Future set a daily open interest record of 16,611 on 15 September 2000 (previous daily open interest record of 10,582 set on 2 August 2000); FTSE 100 Index Option (ESX) set a daily open interest record of 881,001 on 15 September 2000 (previous daily open interest record of 756,204 set on 18 August 2000)