In Brief: Two Exchanges In Chicago Plan Mexican Index

CHICAGO - The Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange have applied for regulatory approval to list options, futures, and options on futures based on a jointly developed index of Mexican stocks.

The Mexican 30 Index will track the performance of equity securities issued by some of the best-known companies in Mexico, including Banacci, Grupo Financiero Bancomer, Grupo Financiero Serfin and Telefonos de Mexico. The stocks have a combined market value of $46.2 billion as of July 31.

"The introduction of a broad-based index of Mexican stocks is a logical extension of our equity index product line," said Bill Brodsky, president of the Chicago Merc. "This, coupled with our long-established cross- margining system with the CBOE, assures great efficiency to brokerage firms, market-makers, and locals at the exchanges."

In April, the Merc began trading futures contracts on the Mexican peso. Eventually, the exchange is looking to expand its coverage by trading Mexican interest rate futures. An application is pending with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to trade futures and options on futures in the real, Brazil's currency.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange, which says it controls 95.2% of the U.S. options market, lists options on 18 individual Latin American companies, as well as index options for Mexico and several South American countries.