MGEX Expands Trading Hours For Electronic Trading

The Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) announced today that it will be expanding the trading hours for its electronically traded futures and options contracts by one hour effective with the Sunday night trading session on October 9, 2005. Specifically, trading will start one hour earlier than the current schedule for all electronically traded contracts.

The MGEX Hard Red Spring Wheat futures contract will trade electronically from 6:32 pm CT to 6:00 am CT Sunday through Friday. The underlying Spring Wheat options contract will trade electronically from 6:34 pm CT to 6:00 am CT Sunday through Friday. There will be no changes made to open outcry trading hours for either of these contracts.

Further, effective with the October 9, 2005 trading session, MGEX Index Contracts will also begin trading an hour earlier. The MGEX National Corn Index (NCI) futures contract will trade from 6:30 pm CT to 1:45 pm CT, with the underlying NCI options contract trading from 6:32 pm CT to 1:45 pm CT Sunday through Friday. The MGEX National Soybean Index (NSI) futures contract will trade from 6:31 pm CT to 1:45 pm CT, with the underlying NSI options contract trading from 6:33 pm CT to 1:45 pm CT Sunday through Friday.

Finally, MGEX Hard Red Spring Wheat Index, Soft Red Winter Wheat Index and Hard Red Winter Wheat Index futures contracts will trade electronically from 6:32 pm CT to 1:45 pm CT with the underlying options for these contracts trading from 6:34 pm CT to 1:45 pm CT Sunday through Friday.