BSE to launch cross currency derivatives and cross INR options

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Wednesday received the approval from Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for introducing cross currency derivatives (future and options) on pairs such as Euro (EUR) - US Dollar (USD), Pound Sterling (GBP) - USD and USD - Japanese Yen (JPY).

The exchange also received permission to introduce option on EUR-INR.

GBP-INR and JPY-INR in addition to existing USD-INR options, the exchange said in a statement.

Additionally, the regulator has also allowed trading in cross-currency derivatives contracts for a longer period between 9:00 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Currently futures contracts are available only for currency pairs that have the rupee as one leg and an options contract for only a single currency pair - dollar/rupee - is available.

For futures contracts in cross-currencies, 12 standardized monthly contracts will be made available to investors and the contracts will be settled in cash (rupees).

In options contracts, three serial monthly contracts followed by three quarterly contracts will be launched.

The last trading day for the contracts shall be two working days prior to the last working day of the expiry month at 12:30 p.m. and the final settlement price of the cross-currency derivatives contracts shall be computed using the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reference rate for USD - INR and the corresponding exchange rate published by RBI for EUR-INR, GBP-INR and JPY-INR, as applicable, on the last trading day of the contract.

"The introduction of new products will allow entities like corporates, foreign portfolio investors and non-resident Indians to participate and to take positions in the exchange traded currency derivatives markets. Besides, a longer trading session will enable market participants to capture key global events in pricing which they otherwise lose out," said MD and CEO, BSE, Ashishkumar Chauhan.

The size of the these contract will be:

-EUR-USD: EUR 1,000

-GBP-USD: GBP 1,000

.