OSAKA -- The Osaka Securities Exchange started trading Monday in futures contracts whose values are linked to the movements of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and two other stock-bourse indicators, the exchange said.
The two other gauges are the MSCI Japan Index computed by Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc. of the United States and the FTSE Japan Index of FTSE International Ltd. of Britain. The values of the two are linked to the movements of Japanese share prices.
Trading in the futures contracts of the three gauges got under way for the first time in Japan. OSE officials said all three products were traded Monday but that trading volume was thin.
The ceremony to commemorate the start of trading in the three futures indexes was attended by OSE President Goro Tatsumi; James Barringer, a senior official at Dow Jones Indexes, a unit of Dow Jones & Co.; and Takashi Tsutsui, senior managing director of Nomura Securities Co.
Tsutsui, who also serves as an OSE board member, told the gathering that the move "will allow us to provide investors with the opportunities to engage in fully international and diverse trades."