US/JAPAN – Trading in Nikkei 225 futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) set a new single-day trading volume yesterday, March 05, suggesting a recovery in investor confidence in the Japanese stock market.

Yesterday’s trading volume peaked at 21,561 contracts against 17,155, the previous record, set one day short of a year ago, March 06 2001.

The Nikkei 225 futures contract was launched in 1990 and is based on the Nikkei 225, a price weighted index comprising 225 top-tier Tokyo-listed Japanese companies. According to CME, this is Japan’s most widely-followed and frequently-quoted index.

CME offers futures contracts and options on futures in four main areas: interest rates, stock indices, foreign exchange and commodities, moving some US$1.5bn (€1.7bn) each day in settlement payments.

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