Eurex Turns Over Some 70 Million Contracts In August - 682 Million Contracts Traded In 2003 - 32 Percent Higher Year On Year - Further Increases In Volume In French And Dutch Equity Options

Eurex, the international derivatives market, traded and cleared 69.9 million contracts in August. During the first eight months of the year 2003, market participants connected to Eurex worldwide from over 700 locations turned over a total of some 682 million contracts, roughly one-third higher or 168 million contracts more than the number traded during the same period of the previous year.

The highest-volume segment in August was the fixed-income products, in which the largest share of the Eurex turnover was posted with 38 million contracts traded. The leading product was the Euro-Bund future with volume of 16.2 million contracts, ahead of the Euro-Bobl future with 10.3 million contracts and the Euro-Schatz future with 8.4 million contracts traded. Turnover in Eurex fixed-income products rose 32 percent, year on year.

In equity-based derivatives, 31.9 million contracts were traded at Eurex in August, comprising 16.3 million contracts in the equity-index derivatives segment and 15.6 million contracts in the equity options segment. The turnover in equity-index derivatives rose 36 percent, year on year. The leading contract in equity-index derivatives in August was the future on the DJ Euro STOXX 50 index, with 6.4 million contracts traded, ahead of the volume in options on the DJ Euro STOXX 50 index, with 4.4 million contracts traded. The strongest contract in equity options at Eurex in August was the option on Allianz, with some 2.2 million contracts traded, ahead of the option on Münchner Rück, with some 1.4 million contracts in volume, and the option on Nokia, in which 1 million contracts were traded.

In the equity options segment, Dutch and French equity options showed high growth rates again in August: The world's leading equity options exchange turned over more than 740,000 contracts in Dutch options, roughly 79 percent more than in August 2002, achieving a market share of about 14 percent of the market in Dutch equity options as a whole. The volume in French equity options at Eurex, with 152,000 contracts traded, increased more than eightfold against the same month of last year. This gave Eurex a market share of about 12,5 percent of the total market in French equity options, measured in terms of the nominal value of the equity options traded (the nominal value of the transactions).

Eurex Bonds, the electronic trading platform that rounds out the Eurex offerings in the fixed-income segment, showed a rise in trading activity by its market participants again in August: With 17 billion euros in turnover (single counting), Eurex Bonds achieved an increase of 21.5 percent (13.9 billion euros) compared with August 2002.