Euronext.Liffe launches one-month eonia futures

Euronext.Liffe launched its new one-month eonia (euro overnight index average interest rate) futures contract this morning.

The product represents the average rate on unsecured overnight euro lending transactions in the interbank market, and is designed to complement the exchange’s three-month euro futures contract – euribor – which Liffe launched in 1999. Liffe (the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange) was bought by pan-European exchange Euronext at the beginning of last year.

"There weren't many trades this morning, but that's to be expected," said a London-based spokeswoman for Euronext.Liffe. "We're not expecting fireworks here, but we have prices and we have trades."The new contract will be traded on the electronic trading system Liffe Connect. The eonia interest rate is calculated each day by the European Central Bank (ECB) and is defined as the weighted average rate of transactions reported to the ECB that day by a representative panel of banks.

Euronext.Liffe said the new contract will provide traders and investors with enhanced trading and risk management opportunities at the short end of the yield curve.