Press

Trading volume has increased sharply in the products of HEX, the Finnish derivatives exchange, since their most liquid derivatives were transferred to the Eurex platform. This is particularly clear, as the two exchanges reported, from the option on Nokia shares, for which Eurex is now the leading marketplace worldwide. With a market share of about 40 percent, Eurex ranks well ahead of the other five trading places for Nokia options in the United States and Sweden.

The Nokia option was one of the first products to be transferred from HEX to Eurex in September 1999 in the framework of the cooperation between the two exchanges. HEX products have been traded on Eurex since January 2000. On Wednesday, both partners emphasized the success of their cooperation: "We have achieved all of the goals we set for ourselves: The market participants are profiting from a larger range of products, the market is becoming more liquid and the costs are coming down for the exchanges."

About 23,000 Nokia options are currently traded at Eurex on a daily average, which means that this option now ranks fourth out of a total of 75 stock options listed at Eurex. When the Nokia option was first transferred to Eurex, HEX volume was still about 3,000 contracts per day. Eurex attributes the distinct rise in volume primarily to the network of participants, which offers the world's largest derivatives market, as well as to low fees. Eurex also offers a broad spectrum of maturities and flexible treatment as regards the introduction of new exercise prices, which also gives the market participants maximum flexibility.

The segment for national and international stock options at Eurex has grown considerably overall. Roughly 63 million stock options have already been traded by the end of September. Therefore, contract volume for the first nine months of the current year is already even with the total volume traded in the Eurex stock option segment as a whole last year.