Dubai Exchange Volumes Grow 101% In H1 2013

Trading volumes on the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) registered a year-on-year growth of 101 per cent in the first half of 2013, reaching 7,716,340 contracts, valued at $ 268.85 billion.

The increase in trading volumes is attributed to a rise in currency volumes, which recorded a 112 per cent increase, compared to the first half of last year.

The surge in currency volume is mainly due to the popularity of Indian rupee futures, which registered a 95 per cent growth over the same period last year, reaching an aggregate value of $ 242.5 billion

Euro futures also saw a considerable growth at 280 per cent year-on year.

“Our exceptional H1 volume growth has been driven not only by our successful existing contracts, such as Indian Rupee futures and Gold futures, but also by the exchange’s ability to enhance liquidity and widen investor participation in new contracts,” said Gary Anderson, CEO of DGCX.

Anderson said that the DGCX strategy during the first half of the financial year focused on efforts to expand the onshore platform for the emerging market products. The early volumes achieved from the mini-Indian futures contract further encouraged this strategy.

The volume in June on the exchange registered a year-on-year growth of 79 per cent to reach up to 1,593,150 contracts with a value of $43.77 billion.

The recently launched mini-Indian Rupee future contract saw a 140 per cent increase from May with 369,725 contracts traded. The regular Indian Rupee futures contract maintained its robust performance with 1,172,476 contracts in June, up 47 per cent year-on-year.

The Indian rupee fell to a record low against the US dollar last week, as global investors pulled out of emerging markets amid concerns over the scaling back of the US quantitive easing programme.

The rupee fell to a low of 59.97 for one US dollar late Thursday, despite an attempt by the Reserve Bank of India to stem the fall in the morning, according to currency dealers in Mumbai.

The rupee has now fallen more than 10 per cent since the start of May, making it one of the worst-performing major currencies in Asia.