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Technology Stocks : Ascend Communications (ASND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: w2j2 who wrote (29477)	1/6/1998 9:04:00 AM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 61433

U.S. OPTIONS FOCUS/Calls popular on tech rally Reuters Story - January 05, 1998 15:26 %BNK %TEL %ELI %ENT %DPR %BUS %US %INSI %DRV %.N/OPT CPWR %STX CPQ INTC BEL SBC SNG NB V%REUTER P%RTR CHICAGO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Investors were actively trading call options on several U.S. technology stocks as the sector rallied solidly, but the action was a combination of buying and selling, traders said Monday. One highlight was Compuware Corp , where the February 40 call traded nearly 9,900 contracts. With the stock climbing three to 35-3/8, the option was up 11/16 at 1-3/4. It had open interst of roughly 3,100 contracts. The Compuware February 25 and 37-1/2 calls and the January 35 and 40 calls each traded more than 1,000 contracts. A trader in the options said most of the action in those calls was from one firm. "Some of it's been covering short positions and some of it's been additional trading," he said, adding that the firm was active in the options into the end of 1997. He said the stock may be benefitting from new-year buying after it dropped from the upper 30s in December. The most active Compuware put was the February 35, with volume of 270 contracts. Other technology stocks with busy calls included Compaq Computer Corp and Intel Corp . In late trade, Compaq was up 1-7/8 at 61-1/2 on consolidated volume of more than 11.2 million shares. Intel gained 1-5/8 to 74-1/4. "Put volume is relatively light compared to last week," said Michael Schwartz, a managing director at CIBC Oppenheimer. He added that volatility in Intel remained firm as put action was fairly brisk along with the calls. "You do get put trading (in Intel) that's pretty significant versus the rest of the marketplace," he said. The busiest Intel option was the January 70 call, which traded 11,350 contracts. The January 75 call traded about 7,260. Among Intel puts, the January 70 traded nearly 6,900 and the January 65 traded 5,730. In other activity, an investor rolled a position in Bell Atlantic Corp calls out by 376 days to the January 1999 expiration from the January 1998 expiration, paying 3/4 of a point for the move. The January 60 call and January 1999 60 call each traded 2,785 contracts. Open interest in the long-dated one was 167 contracts compare with about 2,930 in the regular option. Bell Atlantic shares lost 2-15/16 to 88 after SBC Communications Inc said it agreed to buy Southern New England Telecommunications Corp in an all-stock deal initially valued at $4.4 billion. Bell has previously been rumored to be interested in SNET. Schwartz said the Bell call buyer might be speculating on Bell's being bought. "That buyer may have made his New Year's resolution to let time work for him, not against him," he said. Time decay erodes premiums quicker in near-term options than long-term options. In other trading, the NationsBank Corp January 50 call traded about 2,700 contracts in conjunction with a block trade of 300,000 shares. The stock was up 1-1/2 at 62-1/4.