Thanks 600sl, I'll look at exercise + buyback routes. Expiry is still a while off yet, so I'm not desperate to sell at market maker prices (which essentially assign the option no time value and a discount to the intrinsic value).
Mike,
I'm not smart enough to trade the SPI, however if you are worried about declining prices on your stocks, it's a simple matter of buying the relevant number of put contracts to cover your holding.
