§ Mr. ButterfillTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information he has regarding the total volume traded in the futures and options market for each of the last three years; and what proportion of this was in foreign currency earnings.
§ Mr. ForthA total of 20.1 million contracts were traded on the six London exchanges in 1986, 33 million in 1987, 38 million in 1988, and 38.7 million in the first nine months of 1989 (51.6 million at annual rate). These volumes refer to contracts cleared by the London clearing house and are the most comprehensive measure of turnover. It is not known what proportion of that volume is transacted in foreign currency.