Renewed investor demand for the Euro Notional contract was clearly apparent in Q1 2000, with 11,126,915 contracts traded compared with 2,173,956 in Q1 1999, an increase of 411.83%. At end March, net open interest in the Euro Notional stood at a level comparable to the previous month's - 158,809 contracts versus 158,418 for February - following the rollover of positions from March to June 2000. More than 4 million lots were traded in March, giving a daily average of nearly 175,000. The liquidity index computed by ParisBourse SBF SA shows that the Euro Notional continues to enjoy instantaneous liquidity: the average quantity traded on the best limit is identical to that for the two previous two months, namely 154 lots at 1 tick, and an average quantity of 1,100 on the first five limits.
The Dow Jones STOXX SM indexes were launched in 1998 by STOXX Limited, owned equally by ParisBourse, Deutsche Börse AG, SWX, and Dow Jones. The Dow Jones STOXX SM indexes have become benchmarks for European equities, particularly in the blue-chip category, with the Dow Jones STOXX SM 50 index of fifty blue chips selected from the 15 countries of the European Union and the Dow Jones Euro STOXX SM 50 index of fifty stocks chosen from the 10 euro-zone countries.
Total volume in equity and index derivatives reached nearly 18 million contracts. Activity in the Dow Jones Euro STOXX SM 50 future more than doubled, with upwards of 135,000 contracts traded in March, compared with 51,839 in February, and a 27% rise in net open interest. Equity option volumes were buoyant in March, the first half-yearly expiration of the year 2000, with 9,395,777 contracts traded, up more than 56% on the figure for previous half-yearly expiration (6,016,694 contracts in December 1999). March's five most heavily traded equity options were France Telecom, BNP, Vivendi, Eurotunnel and Axa.
In the commodities sector, volumes rose 84%, with nearly 17,000 contracts traded compared with 9,207 in February. Volume in the Rapeseed future was up sharply on the previous month, with 11,519 contracts (575,950 metric tons traded) compared with 2,886 contracts in February. The increase is attributable to strong demand from importing countries.
