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Montréal Exchange Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of TMX Group and Canada’s national derivatives exchange, today announced that its S&P/TSX 60™ Index Futures contract (symbol: SXF) has become an important barometer that accurately anticipates the direction of the S&P/TSX 60 Index at the opening of trading.
“Trading on the SXF futures contract starts at 6:00 a.m., which provides three and half hours of trading activity before Toronto Stock Exchange opens,” said Alain Miquelon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Montréal Exchange. “Similar to other international markets, Canadian investors now have the opportunity to evaluate where the market will open by observing the behaviour of the SXF contract in response to economic news released prior to the open.”
The SXF contract, which was launched in September 1999, is the benchmark financial instrument used primarily by institutional investors to hedge a portfolio of Canadian equities. On average for 2010, more than $2 billion in value is traded daily in the SXF index futures contract compared to $3 billion for the stocks that comprise the underlying index, making the SXF an important contributor to the trading activity of the equities and equity derivatives markets in Canada.
SXF contract quotes are available on Montréal Exchange’s web site at www.m-x.ca. To learn more about the S&P/TSX 60 Index Futures, please view our short presentation at http://m-x.na4.acrobat.com/sxf_leading_indicator/.
The Montréal Exchange also lists interest rate futures contracts, such as the Canadian Three-Month Canadian Bankers’ Acceptance Futures contracts (BAX) and the Ten-Year Government of Canada Bond Futures contracts (CGB), that are closely followed by market participants and that are available for trading starting at 6:00 a.m. each day.
