Dubai bourse starts trading in BSE Sensex futures
03 Jul 2013
The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) has started trading in futures contract based on the Sensex, the blue-chip stock index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), India's leading bourse. The contract will be formally listed on the bourse on 5 July.
DGCX Sensex futures will be the first Indian index futures to be introduced to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, DGCX said in a release.
Once listed, DGCX Sensex futures will provide unique trading opportunities for international investors seeking access to India's market, it said.
The contract, denominated in US dollars, will use the same settlement methodology and calculations as its underlying index, the Sensex.
The launch of the Sensex futures, which follows DGCX's successful Indian rupee contracts, is also part of a planned expansion of DGCX's Emerging Market product offering, the bourse said in its release.
The launch of the Sensex futures follows an alliance forged by BSE, Asia's oldest stock exchange, with the Dubai bourse on the lines of rival National Stock Exchange's (NSE) launch of trading in its index futures on both the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Singapore Exchange.
Though BSE, which claims to be the world's No 1 exchange with 5,000 listed companies, however, saw its trade volumes eclipsed by those of NSE, a new-age outfit.
The total value of share trading on the NSE hit a little more than $526 billion last year, against about $110 billion on the BSE, World Federation of Exchanges data shows.
DGCX's product portfolio already covers a diverse range of sectors, including precious metals, base metals, currencies and energy. DGCX additionally launched the world's first Indian rupee futures contract and the Middle East's first copper futures contract.
The listing of Sensex futures also marks DGCX's introduction of equities as a new asset class on the exchange. DGCX aims to further expand this equities proposition by launching similar contracts such as the MSCI India index futures in the near future.