Mumbai: Futures & options (F&O) contracts of the Sensex — India’s popular blue-chip Index, owned by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) — will start trading in Europe. It will be country’s first equity index to be traded there. In Europe, the Sensex will be traded on the Eurex, the region’s derivative leader, controlled by German operator Deutsche Börse and SIX Swiss Exchange AG.

The global liquidity network of Eurex comprises 417 direct exchange members in 25 countries. It dominates trading in indices such as the Eurostoxx 50, Dax and SMI Swiss index, as well as German and Eurozone equity options on
single stocks.

Over 9.9 million derivative contracts of various indices and stocks were traded on the Eurex platform in September. Globally, it is considered one of the Big Three derivative exchanges, along with NYSE Euronext Liffe and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

This is a major step forward for the BSE, Asia’s oldest bourse, to revive its dormant equity derivatives segm-ent, where the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has a monopoly, with an aver-age daily turnover of over Rs 1 lakh crore.

Currently, NSE’s key index, (the standard and poors) S&P (CONSOL Energy Inc.) CNX Nifty, is traded on the Singapore Stock Exchange in Asia and CME in the US. In Europe, NSE has expressed its intention to launch Nifty options contracts on the London Stock Exchange, ranked a distant third after the Eurex and Liffe. The Sensex may have a first-mover advantage over Nifty in Europe, said market players. Interestingly, the Sensex will be trade from 7.50 am on Central European Time for 22 hours on the Eurex, which will effectively capture the trading hours of Europe, the US and Asia.

The Eurex will offer two market-making schemes for the index: one to support liquidity during the overlap of Indian and European trading hours, and a permanent scheme in Sensex options contracts. The contracts will be dollar denominated and settled in cash. The lot size of Sensex F&Os on Eurex will be one, and the value will be as per the value of the index. This means one lot would be of $20,000, if the index is trading at a level of 20,000.

New Delhi: Dipak Jain, an Indian-American academician, has been appointed the Dean of leading international business school INSEAD. Professor Jain, who was the dean of the Kellogg school at Northwestern University in the US from 2001 to 2009, will assume responsibilities at INSEAD in March 2011. With this appointment, Mr Jain becomes a part of a growing list of academicians of Indian origin getting leading roles at foreign universities.

Mr Jain will succeed J. Frank Brown, who will step down in 2011. His responsibilities will include exploring opportunities to set-up INSEAD programmes in India and China. INSEAD is currently focusing on expanding its global presence and getting more students from developing countries.

New Delhi: Prominent Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has won three medals in the North American sand sculpting competition held at Virginia Beach, becoming the first sand artist from India to win this championship in the US.
Pattnaik was one of the 11 sculptors who participated in the largest competition of its kind in the US. He won medals for Sculptor's Choice, Neptune's Choice and secured fifth position in the solo championship.