Strong Rise In Trading Of Dow Jones STOXX Sector Index Products At Eurex - January Turnover 140 Percent Higher Than Previous Month, Up 400 Percent From October 2001 Ferscha: "Eurex The World's Most Successful Derivatives Exchange In The Index Derivatives

The international derivatives market Eurex has given a positive interim assessment of the trading in futures and options on the sector indexes of the Dow Jones Euro STOXX SM. Trading volume in all sector index products in the world's leading derivatives market has more or less quadrupled, from some 50,000 contracts to 190,000 contracts traded, since the options on the sector indexes were launched at the end of September 2001. In January 2002, Eurex traded 190,000 contracts, 140 percent more than in the month before, corresponding to a daily average of some 9,000 contracts traded. The trend in the sector products is similar to that in the European blue-chip indexes: The Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50 products for Euroland have met with a much higher acceptance in the market than the products for Europe as a whole (Dow Jones STOXX 600SM). Roughly 99 percent of the turnover is generated by Euroland products.

Eurex CEO Rudolf Ferscha said: "The sector index products still have a lot of potential. We are offering our customers an attractive product innovation, as we did with the introduction of STOXX derivatives in June 1998. Eurex is the world's most successful derivatives exchange in the index derivatives segment, with the highest growth rates. With the continuous development of the STOXX brand, we have developed the most successful and profitable index brand of recent years."

On March 19, 2001 Eurex had introduced eight new futures contracts on sector indexes of the Dow Jones STOXX 600 SM and Dow Jones Euro STOXX SM, which respectively cover the euro zone and pan-European area in the sectors banks, technology, telecommunications and healthcare. On September 24, 2001, they were then joined by four new option contracts on the sector indexes Banks, Technology, Telecommunications and Healthcare of the Dow Jones Euro STOXX SM.