Futures lead huge surge in currency volume at DGCX in Apr

The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) has said it witnessed a whopping 153 % rise in currency volumes in April, led by one of its flagship contracts -- Indian rupee futures.

With a year-on-year increase of 145%, the rupee futures clocked a total monthly volume of 1,223,960 contracts, while Euro futures also saw a strong performance with a 325% increase from last year, DGCX said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Exchange's recently launched Mini Indian Rupee futures, traded 44,161 contracts in its first full month of trading. The mini contract, which is one-10th the size of the main DGCX Indian Rupee Futures contract, provides a cost-effective hedging and arbitraging tool for retail remitters, SMEs and investors.

The first of its kind to be introduced in the region and outside of India, the contract began trading on March 28, 2013. DGCX achieved a significant growth milestone in April when its cumulative trading volumes since inception crossed $1 trillion in value.

Since its launch in 2005, the Exchange has traded 24.5 million contracts, valued at $1.025 trillion. The major milestone, achieved in its eighth year since inception, comes on the back of a substantial year-on-year volumes growth of 139 % in April.

Volumes in April totalled 1,336,942 contracts, valued at  $48.73 billion.

Gary Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, DGCX, said: "We are delighted that our total traded value has crossed $1 trillion since inception, a milestone which represents DGCX's rapid growth as a derivatives exchange since its launch in 2005."...In particular, the robust performance of DGCX's newest contract, the Mini-Indian Rupee futures, in its first month, is a testament to the Exchange's ability to provide market participants with innovative contracts that meet their investment and hedging needs within a highly supportive trading and clearing environment."

Precious metals contracts also displayed strong performances in April, with both gold and silver futures registering a year-on-year growth of 24%, the statement said.

DGCX was established in 2005 and is the region's first derivatives exchange and the only one allowing participants to clear and settle transactions within the Gulf region, it said.

DGCX is a Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (Dubai Government) initiative in partnership with Financial Technologies (India) Ltd and Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX), it added.