Sydney Futures Exchange Experiences Record Electricity Volumes and Open Interest

Sydney Futures Exchange experienced record monthly trading volume and month end open interest levels in the d-cypha SFE electricity futures and options products during February 2006. A total of 3,694 contracts were traded and month end open interest was 16,963 contracts. This surpasses the previous trading volume of 2,835 contracts and the month end open interest of 15,846 in May 2005 and December 2005, respectively.

Illustrating the growing maturity of the d-cypha SFE electricity futures and options products first introduced in September 2002, the 42 million MWh of electricity exposure traded during the past 12 months (an 102% increase on the 12 months prior) represents approximately 22% of the underlying National Electricity Market (NEM) system demand (NSW, QLD, VIC and SA). The d-cypha SFE electricity futures and options products listed at the Sydney Futures Exchange provide fully transparent market information to market participants, potential new entrants and other observers. Moreover, SFE Clearing Corporation becomes the counter-party and guarantees the performance of every electricity futures and options contract. Such transparency and counter-party credit benefits are particularly useful in light of the new hedge accounting standards and for signalling critical asset investment in the National Electricity Market (NEM).