The Chicago Board Options Exchange,CBOE, said it will list new Standard and Poor 500 stock index
options beginning April 20 that will trade side-by-side with
the existing S and P 500 options &lt;SPX>.
    The new S and P 500 option contract differs from the
existing contract in that settlement of the new contract will
be based on the opening value of the index on expiration
Friday. Settlement of the existing contract is based on the
closing value of the index on expiration Friday.
    The new opening settlement S and P 500 options will be
offered only in months in which there are S and P 500 futures.
    Initial months to be listed in the new options will be
June, September and December, the CBOE said.
    Dissemination of the settlement of price of the new options
will be made through a special ticker symbol -- &lt;SET>, the
exchange said.
    There will initially be seven series of strike prices for
each contract month of the new options -- one strike price "at
the money," or near to the actual spot index value, and three
above and three below the spot index.
    Position limits in any combination of both the new and
existing S and P 500 options will be 15,000 contracts.
    The exchange said in the rare event that a stock does not
open on expiration Friday, the previous day's closing price of
that stock will be used to calculate the settlement value of
the index.
 Reuter
