The Hong Kong Futures Exchange (HKFE) announced that today's simulated trading test of its HKATS electronic trading system has been completed and that it has started analysing the results.

Today's test was the latest in a series of tests the Exchange has been conducting as part of its preparations for the migration of Hang Seng Index (HSI) Futures and Options from open outcry trading to HKATS.

The test was designed to simulate the operations of the HSI Futures and Options markets over two business days. It comprised four 30-minute test sessions. Each session was aimed at simulating trade executions and related market activity at different levels.

Test Details:

• Number of HKFE Members connected to HKATS: 116.
• Number of HKFE Members participating in the test: 108.
• Number of users logged on to the system: 201 (including HKFE users).
• Number of test sessions: 4
• Length of each test session: 30 minutes

"In laymen's terms, our test seemed to indicate that HKATS can handle a market opening load of four times normal and a market intra-day trading load of 5.6 times normal, but it can not handle a market opening load of five times normal," Chief Executive Randy Gilmore said in explaining the preliminary analysis of the results.

Exchange officials described the test results as "meaningful" and "useful," and they thanked Members for their co-operation in following the test guidelines.

"Our goal was to obtain valid test results on the performance and capacity of HKATS by emulating the total market at different load levels and we accomplished what we set out to do," Mr Gilmore said. "Test one, two and three were clean and HKATS performed as designed. The fourth test though did not have the same results."

Mr Gilmore also said: "We consider our test to be successful," and he added the Exchange now has a far greater knowledge of what transaction levels HKATS can handle.

In addition, Mr. Gilmore said: "On Wednesday, I will be recommending to our Board that the migration of the HSI products be postponed for a short while to allow for confirmation of our test findings today."

Members and the Securities and Futures Commission will be fully advised of all the details of today's test as soon as the full report is available.

The Hong Kong Futures Exchange is a leading futures and options marketplace in the Asia Pacific Region, with a membership of over 130 companies, including a number of major international institutions. The Exchange is actively diversifying its product base, which now includes currency, interest rate and equity-based products.

For further enquiries, please contact HKFE Corporate Communications: Mr. Mark Tung on 2842 9448 or Miss Chiu Yeung on 2842 9322.