Press

Eurex, the European derivatives market, got off to a very good start in 1999. With total volume of 23.6 million contracts traded in January, Eurex surpassed its January 1998 turnover by about 50 percent. It was also about 50 percent higher than the previous month's volume of 15.8 million contracts traded.

Trading in the money-market products rose significantly. Whereas about 50,000 Euromark futures were traded in January last year, the total traded in the first month of 1999 was almost 400,000 contracts, with 382,000 traded in the three-month Euribor future alone. Eurex' share of the market has thus increased from one percent to 12 percent, putting Eurex in second place Europe-wide.

Trading volume in the stock options also showed strong growth. Volume in options on the DAX blue chips grew about 350 percent, from 662,000 contracts in January 1998 to about 4.8 million contracts in January 1999. This volume represents an increase of 1 million contracts over the total for the month of December 1998. The trading volume in options on SMI companies was about 41 percent higher than the previous month's figure.

The BUND future is still the leading contract, with volume of 8.7 million contracts traded in January. As in the previous year, bond market products are the strongest Eurex segment, with a total of 13.3 million contracts traded in January.