CME Launch E-mini S&P Asia 50 Futures

CME E-mini S&P Asia 50 Futures to Launch February 12, 2006

On February 12, 2006, CME is scheduled to launch CME E-mini S&P Asia 50 futures, the first futures contract ever launched on a Pan-Asian index.

With the launch of this new product, investors can gain exposure to 50 of the largest, blue-chip issues available from four rapidly growing Asian markets - Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Korea - with one transaction. To gain the same exposure, currently investors have to build a portfolio selecting multiple issues from multiple countries (which can be difficult and time-consuming) or invest across several country-specific indexes.

The product will trade exclusively on the CME Globex platform, making it available on a nearly 24 hour per day basis, around the world.

CME, the worldwide leading provider of stock-index futures, will expand the popular CME E-mini futures and options product line on February 12, 2006 with a new contract offering -- CME® E-mini® S&P Asia 50® futures.

Based on the S&P Asia 50 Index, these contracts are designed to help investors capitalize on the investment opportunities in the Far East, where Asian “tigers” such as Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are experiencing impressive growth.

The CME E-mini S&P Asia 50 futures contracts will utilize the time-tested E-mini design pioneered at CME, and will be available for electronic trading on the CME Globex® electronic trading platform virtually 24 hours a day, six days a week.

More details here: http://www.cme.com/trading/prd/overview_SP516059.html