KHALEEJ TIMES, Saturday, Sep 4, 2021 | Muharram 27, 1443
DGCX WTI Futures contract draws strong demand
Emirates:
The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange
(DGCX) registered a high monthly Average Open Interest (AOI) of 161,259
contracts during August.
The DGCX Group saw its West Texas Intermediary
(WTI) Futures Contract gain traction
last month, registering year-on-year (Y-O-Y) Average Daily Volume (ADV) growth
of 62 per cent compared to the same period last year.
The rise was noticeable from July 2021 and
followed global trends, with oil prices recently posting its biggest weekly gain
in over a year, as energy firms began shutting US production.
Additionally, the DGCX’s Weekly INR-US Dollar
(USD) Futures Contract continued to generate interest from market participants,
recording a year-to-date (Y-T-D) volume growth of nine per cent in August,
compared to the same period last year. The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) Futures
Contract again maintained its growth during the month. Once again, this growth
illustrates increased demand for the product since its launch in April.
Additionally, the DGCX recorded a spike in trading in its precious metal’s
portfolio this month, with the Shari’ah Compliant Spot Gold Contract trading six
times more compared to the same period in 2020.
During August, the DGCX Group also issued a tender
for members interested in applying as Market Makers on the DGCX platform, as
part of its Designated Market Making scheme. The program will run for a period
of 12 months - from January 3, 2022, until December 30, 2022 - and will
encourage market participants to further bolster trading activity and liquidity
on the exchange, thus making prices more efficient for the DGCX’s member base.
The closing date for receiving applications is September 24, 2021.
The group will host a webinar about Marketing
Making Opportunities at DGCX on September 7, 2021.
Les Male, CEO of DGCX, said: "In August, the DGCX
saw market participants leverage several of our contracts for a variety of
hedging and investment purposes. These were stimulated by managing exposure to
volatility in the oil markets, capitalizing on gains in the INR and diversifying
into new geographies. As we continue to receive interest in our contracts, we
believe it is important to continue driving liquidity, and have recently invited
our members to act as market makers on the exchange."
He added: "The initative will pave the way for
increasing market activity across our portfolio and support our strategic
objective of generating stronger trading activity that continues to strengthen
Dubai’s growth and development for commodities, FX and equities trading."