Press

Approximately 83.6 million contracts were traded and cleared by the international derivatives market Eurex in May. This represents an increase of approximately seven percent compared to May 2003 (78 million contracts).

The strongest performance in May was delivered by the Fixed Income Derivatives segment, which accounted for more than half of Eurex's traded volume, or 44.5 million contracts. At 17.6 million contracts, the Euro Bund Future retained its position as the most successful product. The Euro Bobl Future accounted for around 13 million contracts, up by approximately four percent on the previous year. At around 9 million contracts, the Euro Schatz Future was up by around six percent on May 2003.

Equity-based derivatives recorded turnover of around 39 million contracts in May, 16.4 million of which were traded in the equity options segment, and 22.6 million of which were traded in the equity-index derivatives segment. Turnover in the equity-index derivatives segment rose by around 22 percent year-on-year to total 22.6 million contracts (May 2003: 18.5 million contracts). The most heavily traded contract in this segment in May was once again the future on the DJ Euro STOXX 50 index, which, at approximately 10 million contracts, exceeded the results for May 2003 by around 28 percent. The option on the DJ Euro STOXX 50 index recorded 36 percent growth to approximately 6 million contracts. The strongest contract among the equity options at Eurex in May was the option on Allianz, with some 2.6 million contracts traded.

The electronic trading platform Eurex Bonds, which rounds off Eurex's fixed-income product range, recorded a volume of around 9 billion euros (single counting) in May.