Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc (“TSE”) and NYSE Liffe today announce that TOPIX Futures will be available for trading on NYSE Liffe from 18 October 2010, making this benchmark index available in both Tokyo and London.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s TOPIX (Tokyo Stock Price Index) is the most popular index for benchmarking Japanese equity portfolios, and TOPIX Futures are already actively traded by investors worldwide.
The NYSE Liffe launch of TOPIX Futures will increase the number of potential investors who can access these products, particularly outside Asia. The NYSE Liffe market will remain available for trading for 11 hours (10 hours during British Summer Time) following the close of the TSE market. There will also be simultaneous trading in London and Tokyo during the final TSE trading session, leading to potential arbitrage opportunities.
The two exchanges have established a position transfer mechanism so that all NYSE Liffe TOPIX Futures positions at the end of each day will be transferred to the TSE. TOPIX Futures on TSE and NYSE Liffe will be fully fungible, allowing a single, fungible pool of Open Interest to exist in Tokyo.
Atsushi Saito, CEO of the Tokyo Stock Exchange Group, Inc. said: “We are delighted that NYSE Liffe will launch TOPIX Futures in October, a product which is already traded by institutional investors worldwide, with over half of its volume coming from foreign investors. This move makes the contract more readily available to a much larger community of traders and investors for a longer period of time, and will greatly contribute to making the Japanese market more attractive.”
Garry Jones, Group Executive Vice President and Head of Global Derivatives at NYSE Euronext, said: “We are very pleased to be working with our partner, the Tokyo Stock Exchange, to make Japanese financial products available globally. The launch of TOPIX Futures on NYSE Liffe further meets the global needs of our investor community. Japan is an important part of our developing strategic partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region, and we look forward to a continuing close relationship with the TSE.”
In order to trade TOPIX Futures contracts on NYSE Liffe, NYSE Liffe Clearing Members will need to sign a Member Link Agreement with a TSE Clearing Member.
Further information is available on NYSE Euronext’s website: www.nyx.com/topixfutures