-- Published: Wednesday, 9 April 2014 | Print | Disqus
By Peter Cooper
Gold futures volume on the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange surged 32 per cent in March from the same month last year to record its highest monthly volume in 12 months. The contract’s exceptional performance saw DGCX’s precious metals segment registering year-on-year growth of 38 per cent.
Total volumes in March increased two per cent from the previous month to aggregate 1,023,410 contracts, valued at $30 billion. The growth in March enabled the Exchange’s first quarter volumes to cross three million contracts.
Dubai’s growing gold trade
Gary Anderson, CEO of DGCX said: ‘The surge in Gold futures volume reflects the steadily increasing interest the contract has seen from global traders over the last few years. The Exchange’s flagship contract provides an effective hedging mechanism that is particularly valuable to gold markets in Asian hubs like Singapore, which have substantial gold trading links with Dubai.
‘We will also launch a spot gold contract in June this year which will complement our existing gold futures to create a larger gold ecosystem in Dubai. Once launched, we believe the DGCX Spot Gold contract will add significant value to local physical market participants since it fills the gap for a physically delivered contract.’
Among other contracts, copper futures registered 3,435 contracts while silver futures traded 4,087 contracts. Growth highlights in the currency segment included euro futures, which rose by 66 per cent, and Indian rupee mini and yen futures that grew by two and three per cent respectively from the previous month. DGCX’s newest contract, Plastics futures, traded 1,950 contracts in March.
Energy too
In the Exchange’s energy segment, DGCX WTI futures contract was the key driver, with a year-on-year increase of 114 per cent. Both euro and Indian rupee mini futures recorded their second highest average daily open interest of 1,806 and 6,016 contracts respectively in March 2014.
The DGCX is the only derivatives exchange in the Middle East. The 267-member exchange was stablished in 2005and is majority owned by Dubai Multi Commodities Centre.
It’s clearly capitalizing on Dubai’s growing role in the regional commodities business with 40 per cent of the world’s gold traded through the city last year and a leading role in global diamond trading. The DMCC is the fastest growing free zone in the city with 89,000 employees, way ahead of the Dubai International Financial Centre at 15,000, although they launched around the same time.
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-- Published: Wednesday, 9 April 2014 | E-Mail | Print | Source: GoldSeek.com
