BSE currency derivative turnover hits record Rs 23,143.57 cr

Currency derivative turnover on the BSE today touched Rs 23,143.57 crore, the highest-ever level in this segment recorded by any exchange in the country.

The exchange's earlier record stood at Rs 11,634.42 crore on December 30, 2014.

As many as 36.82 lakh currency derivative contracts valued at Rs 23,143.57 crore were traded on the BSE -- highest daily turnover in the segment of an exchange in the capital markets today.

Turnover of the currency derivative segment at BSE reached another milestone by crossing the Rs 23,000 crore mark today, the exchange said in a statement.

"This is the highest currency derivatives turnover recorded by any exchange in the country so far," it added.

In comparison, BSE's largest rival the National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw a currency derivative turnover of Rs 20,769.82 crore turnover from 32.65 lakh contracts. NSE is generally a much preferred bourse for derivative trading.

Incidentally, the record figures on BSE were witnessed on the second day of the exchange conducting live trading from its Disaster Recovery (DR) site in Hyderabad.

"The exchange is currently operating form its Disaster Recovery site based out of Hyderabad and the spike in turnover is a testament to the seamless trading offered by the exchange through its DR site," BSE said.

Moreover, BSE's currency derivative turnover today was even higher than MCX-SX which saw a trading value of Rs 2,292.82 crore in the segment today.

"The success in the currency derivatives segment can be attributed to the new trading technology at BSE which offers a response time of 200 microseconds," BSE said.

"Additionally, the exchange has the lowest transaction fees allowing investors to trade frequently," it added.

Together the three bourses -- BSE, NSE, MCX-SX -- accounted for a total turnover of more than Rs 46,000 crore in the segment for the day.

Of this, currency derivative value on the BSE represented about 50 per cent share, followed by NSE at 45.12 per cent. Data for currency derivative trade on USE was not available.

Currency derivative contracts allow investors to take position on change in the foreign exchange rates between pairs of two currencies, such as rupee and dollar.

In November, 2013, BSE had become the country's fourth bourse to offer currency derivatives trading.