The international derivatives exchange Eurex will be launching around 170 further single stock futures on stocks listed on the Dow Jones Stoxx 600, RDXxt USD, and S&P 500 indices in the period leading up to February 2008. The launch of the futures will be carried out in several stages starting in October.

The products will be introduced from October 8 onward in eight blocks of up to 40 futures each. From the same date, Eurex will also extend the contract months for all single stock futures by an additional calendar month, while the maximum term will remain unchanged.

With the new products, Eurex will offer single stock futures on more than 570 equities from 18 countries and denominated in four currencies. For the first time, single stock futures on Norwegian equities in EUR will be traded.

Eurex says the expansion of its single stock future range underlines its position as the leading pan-European market for equity derivatives. It is also extending its product offering to a new currency with the launch of single stock futures on major US equities denominated in dollars.

The contract specifications for the new futures generally correspond to those applying to existing products. All single stock futures are settled in cash. As of October 8, the contract months for all single stock futures will be the next 13 calendar months (currently 12) and the two annual months out of the December cycle.

Single stock futures can be traded from 8.50 am until 5.45 pm CET, with the exception of stock futures on Russian American Depository Receipts, where the close on the last trading day is 4.40 pm CET.

Equity-based derivatives, comprising single stock futures, equity options and equity index derivatives, account for around 60 per cent of Eurex's turnover. The exchange has been offering single stock futures since October 2005 and is now one of the world's largest and fastest-growing markets for these derivatives in terms of the number of contracts traded. Turnover has reached around 44.2 million contracts so far this year, compared with 35.6 million contracts in 2006.