CFTC Staff Allows Osaka Securities Exchange’s Mini Futures Contract Based On The Nikkei 225 Stock Average Index To Be Offered And Sold In The United States

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC's) Office of the General Counsel issued a no-action letter on July 10, 2006, permitting the offer and sale in the United States of the Osaka Securities Exchange’s mini futures contract based on the Nikkei 225 Stock Average Index (Nikkei 225).

The Nikkei 225 is a broad-based, price-weighted composite security index consisting of highly capitalized and actively traded stocks currently listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). Managed and published by Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. (Nikkei Shimbun), the Nikkei 225 is a widely observed index of stock market activity in Japan. As of April 20, 2006, the total market capitalization of the Nikkei 225 was approximately U.S. $3.32 trillion.

For information on foreign exchange-traded security index futures contracts pending no-action approval with the CFTC's OGC, see the Foreign Instrument Approvals & Exemptions Backgrounder at www.cftc.gov/opa/backgrounder/opapart30.htm.