Press

From 23 July 2007, Eurex will be expanding its range of European equity options: the segment will be complemented by one Dutch and three French underlyings. The new options are on Air France, Alstom and Vallourec (France) and Randstad (Netherlands). This step further completes coverage of the respective national benchmark indices CAC40 and AEX with Eurex equity options, as all four underlyings are constituents of the respective blue chip indices.

The French and Dutch equity option segments on Eurex have performed well. Together, the equity options of the two segments have achieved a volume this year of around 11.5 million contracts in comparison to 9.4 million for the same period in 2006. During the first six months, the “Dutch Equity Options” segment recorded an average daily volume of approximately 52,000 contracts (2006: 38,500 contracts), while the “French Equity Options” segment traded approximately 38,000 contracts (2006: 28,400 contracts). Open interest is currently at approx. 5.2 million contracts.

The contract specifications of the new options are analogous to the existing French and Dutch equity options. As of 1 August, the four new options will also be included in the market-making package for French and Dutch equity options.