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The international derivatives exchange Eurex expands its sector equity index products segment by adding the European real estate industry with futures and options as well. On Monday 22 September, Eurex will launch equity index futures and options on the Dow Jones EURO STOXX® Real Estate and Dow Jones STOXX® 600 Real Estate supersector indices in line with the new Industrial Classification Benchmark structure (ICB). Both new futures on the Real Estate indices will be included in the existing market-making programs for sector index futures and sector index options.
Peter Reitz, member of the Eurex Executive Board, said, “With the new derivatives on the Dow Jones Real Estate Indizes we are offering our clients targeted investment opportunities into the real estate sector for the first time. The futures and options on the Dow Jones Real Estate indices allow hedging and investment strategies in companies that are active in the European real estate sector.”
The new products are complementary to existing Eurex supersector derivatives with the same contract specifications and key benefits such as cost efficient straight-through processing along with elimination of counterparty risk for order book and wholesale trading as well as transparent and rules based methodology assured by the index providers STOXX and Dow Jones.
Since the introduction of the first Eurex sector products in 2001, the trading volume in these products has continuously increased; in the first nine months of 2008, over 8 million contracts were traded with investor focus in the last two years increasingly shifting from the euro to the pan-European area. Open interest in options and futures on sector indices is currently at approx. 890.000 contracts, which corresponds to a nominal value of over 13 billion euro. These segment figures are the strongest among all exchanges, proving Eurex’ market leadership in this area.
