U.S. dollar contract high

Press, 11 August 1988, Page 29

U.S. dollar contract high

Trading in the U.S. dollar contract was surprisingly high yesterday.

A total of 445 lots were traded, with the August contract climbing 56 points to 14937. The contract was due to be replaced by a new kiwi dollar contract. However, the New Zealand Futures Exchange postponed by three months the introduction of the new contract.

The exchange delayed the introduction so that it could concentrate on gearing up for trading futures options.

The exchange said the International Commodities Clearing house (ICC), which provides futures trading and clearing facilities, had indicated that the kiwi dollar contract and computer system changes for options trading were best introduced at the same time.

The exchange said the new clearing system needed for options trading was part of an improvement to the. automated trading system which was introduced three years ago.

In other trading yesterday, the Barclays share index futures contract cut its premium over the physical sharemarket to 23 points. For the last two weeks the contract has been trading at a premium of more than 30 points.

The September BSI contract closed 21 points down for the day at 2064, with solid volume of 56 lots.

The September Government stock contract was 19 points firmer at 8686 with a total of 1316 contracts traded. The contract traded in a 20 point range but closed near its lows. SUS CONTRACTS Mth Open H/L Last Vol Aug 14914 937/914 937 222 Sep 15050 050/979 031 223 Contracts traded: 445. Open positions at August 8: Aug 172, Sep 47, Dec 34, total 253 (down 37). GOVERNMENT STOCK Mth Open H/L Last Vol Contracts traded: nil. Open positions at August 9: Sep 276, total 276 (same). GOVERNMENT STOCK 11/93 Mth Open H/L Last Vol Sep 8705 705/685 8686 1316 Contracts traded: 1316.

Open positions at August 9: Sep 5926, Dec 3, Mar 77, total

6006 (up 8). WOOL Mth Open H/L Last Vol Contracts traded: nil. Open positions at August 8: Aug 4, Oct 62, Dec 56, Jan 3, Mar 3, total 128 (up 5). 90-DAY BANK BILLS Mth Open H/L Last Vol Aug 8520 525/520 8525 20 Sep 8528 528/515 8518 186 Oct 8537 537/537 8537 5 Dec 8556 556/552 8552 7 Mar 8575 575/575 8575 10 Contracts traded: 228. Open positions at August 9: Aug 384, Sep 1084, Oct 59, Dec 528, Mar 112, Jun 20, Sep 7, total 2194 (up 11). SYDNEY ALL-ORDS (half-points omitted) Prev. Mth close H/L Last Vol Sep 1676 662/613 1614 1472 Dec 646 —/646 1646 4 Contracts traded: 1476. Open positions at August 8: 4307 (up 193). BARCLAY’S SHARE INDEX Mth Open H/L Last Vol Sep 2075 75/52 2064 56 Contracts traded: 56. Open positions at August 9: Sep 198, total 198 (up 2).