A New Option Contract Is Launched On FORTS

On October 10, 2007 new option contracts on RAO UES futures contracts were launched on FORTS (codes of the underlying futures contracts EERx-12.07 and ExZ7.).

The settlement date of the futures contract is December 17, 2007. With the settlement of the futures contract, which is an underlying asset of the options introduced, there will be a delivery of 1000 RAO UES shares.

The launch of these contracts is another step of RTS Stock Exchange in expanding the range of possible operations with derivatives on the shares of power-generating companies of Russia and contributing to minimizing investors’ risks during the reform of RAO UESR. Now on FORTS both futures contracts on the basket of shares (1000 « RAO UESR » + 13595 «TGK-5» + 412 «OGK-5»), futures on RAO UESRshares only (1000 RAO UESRshares) and also options on these contracts are traded.

Derivatives market of RTS – FORTS is a leading trading ground for futures and options in Russia. Trading on FORTS started in September 2001. At present FORTS has the widest in Russian range of instruments. These are 58 contracts (39 futures and 19 options) on shares of Russian companies, bonds, short interest rates, currency, RTS Index, oil, oil products and gold.

The trading volume on FORTS in 2006 exceeded 100 bln dollars. All in all there were made more than 5 mln trades with 89,6 mln contracts. Average daily open interest on standard contracts in 2006 grew by 259,5% in rubles and in December reached 5 bln dollars.