On December 15th, 2004, RTS Stock Exchange Begins To Trade An Option On "Rostelecom" Futures Contract

As of December 15th, 2004, an option on "Rostelecom" Futures Contract with the expiration date of March 10th, 2005, will start trading on FORTS (Futures and Options on RTS). This decision was made by the RTS Stock Exchange Derivatives market committee. So as of December 15th, 2004, four options on single stock futures ("Gazprom", "RAO UES Of Russia", "LUKoil" and "Rostelecom") will be traded on FORTS.

"While liquidity is growing, we are expanding the product line in options", says Roman Roruynov, head of FORTS. "At this point the number of open positions in options exceeds that in futures. We plan on further developing our product line and ensure further development of Russian securities market."