Release: 5189-06

For Release: June 20, 2006

CFTC Staff Allows Bombay Stock Exchange’s Futures Contract Based on the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index to be Offered and Sold in the United States

Washington, D.C. – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC's) Office of General Counsel issued a no-action letter on June 14, 2006, permitting the offer and sale in the United States of the Bombay Stock Exchange’s (BSE’s) futures contract based on the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index (Sensex).

The Sensex is a broad-based, free-float market capitalization-weighted index designed to reflect the overall performance of the Indian equity market. The Sensex, which is owned and managed by BSE, consists of 30 of the most highly capitalized and actively traded stocks currently listed on BSE. Based on data supplied by BSE, the total market capitalization of the Sensex was approximately U.S. $270.0 billion and the “free float” market capitalization was approximately U.S. $129.4 billion as of January 19, 2006.

For information on foreign exchange-traded security index futures contracts pending no-action approval with the CFTC's OGC, see the Foreign Instrument Approvals & Exemptions Backgrounder at www.cftc.gov/opa/backgrounder/opapart30.htm.

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Last Updated: April 23, 2010