Matif and Monep Derivatives trading up 20% to 16 million contracts in March

A total of 16,405,368 contracts changed hands on French derivatives markets Matif and Monep in March. With 405,216 Euribor futures traded in March, Matif was again Europe's second busiest market in the three-month segment. Gross open interest at the end of the month topped 260,000 lots. Sustained business pace reflected in particular the presence of four market-makers prepared to respond to requests for quotes at all times and guaranteeing market depth of at least 500 lots over three ticks for the first year or a total of 2,000 over three ticks all told. In practice, they frequently offer from 500 to 1,000 lots on one tick. In addition, since February 5 this year, members of Meff, the Spanish derivatives market, have had direct access to the Euribor contract. Members of Mif, the Italian market, will be linked up at the beginning of May. Trading in the Euro Notional contract rose 17% in March. Since March 15, the two delivery months open for trading have been based on both French and German government issues. The new structure of the 10-year contracts reflects the market's need for a tool matching the new scale of the European bond market and based on risk-free securities without the threat of a squeeze inherent in single-issuer contracts. Matif SA is thus the only European futures market offering a full range of multi-issuer products spanning the yield curve from 2 to 30 years. Trading in short and long-term equity options rose 68 and 73%, respectively, from February to March against a backdrop of heavy trading on the cash market. The most actively traded contracts were the short-term Eurotunnel option with 912,508 lots, the short-term Axa option with 777,283 lots and the short-term France Telecom option with 585,341 lots. In keeping with this trend, trading was up 14% from February for the CAC 40 future and 41% for European CAC 40 options. Trading in odd-lot long-term CAC 40 options and odd-lot CAC 40 futures, introduced temporarily as part of the switch to the euro, came to an end in March, as did trading in American options on the CAC 40. All Monep index options are now European-style, that is, they can only be exercised at maturity.