Volume in the Euro Notional future reached 6,472,041 contracts, an increase of 60.6% compared with March and close to the all-time record of 6,925,285 contracts established in March 1994. What is more, a new intraday record of 538,126 contracts was set on 6 April 2000, breaking the previous record of 434,631 contracts established on 2 March 1994.
Net open interest at month's end was approximately 150,000 contracts. At the request of traders, the option on the Euro Notional future was reopened for trading on 19 April with a new expiration calendar, and three major market-makers - Helios Groupe Europe, Mako Global Derivatives and Stafford Rates Europe - agreed to quote bid/ask spreads.
In equity and index derivatives, April trading volume was down slightly on the previous month, at approximately 14 million contracts compared with 18 million in March, a monthly expiration. Overall, open interest was up 17.5%, with the biggest rises occurring in short-term equity options (26.8%) and long-term equity options (10.7%). The five most heavily traded options in April were Vivendi, France Telecom, Usinor, BNP-ParisBas and Carrefour.
In commodity derivatives, nearly 11,000 Rapeseed futures changed hands in April, off by a slight 4.8% after March's robust performance, which was driven by export demand.
