Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. advised clients to sell Carrefour SA call options, which wager the stock price will rise, to benefit from an eight-year high for the options contracts on an equity unlikely to extend its surge.

Clients holding Carrefour shares should sell call options expiring in January at a 35-euro strike price, the level at which holders of the contract would be entitled to buy the stock. The stock was at 33.18 euros as of 11:10 a.m. in Paris, 0.8 percent up from the previous close.

So-called ``covered call'' strategies are used to boost stock market returns by selling options that aren't expected to be exercised, allowing investors to keep the premium paid as profit. In covered calls, the seller of the option owns the stock.

Carrefour shares have gained 36 percent since reaching a 13- year low on Oct. 16, and are now ``vulnerable to a pause'' before the company reports earnings in January, Goldman analysts including London-based Jason Cuttler wrote in a note sent late Oct. 31.

The price paid for options on Carrefour, Europe's biggest retailer, increased to the highest since at least 2000 last month, Goldman said. Three-month at-the-money implied volatility, which measures the price of contracts expiring in three months, climbed to 73.1 on Oct. 16, before sliding to close at 61 on Oct. 31, compared with 27 a year earlier, according to Bloomberg data.

Call options give the buyer the right to buy shares at a pre-agreed level on or by a specific date.

Carrefour SA last month said third-quarter sales rose 7 percent as growth in Brazil, Argentina and China was complemented by better-than-expected demand in the company's French domestic market.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gareth Gore in Madrid ggore1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 3, 2008 05:34 EST