SGX introduces clearing of new OTC Coal swaps

Wednesday, 30 Nov 2011

Singapore Exchange's AsiaClear service will clear more varieties of over the counter coal and naphtha swaps from next month.

Clearing of OTC CFR South China Coal Swaps and CFR Japan Naphtha Swaps is available from 5 December 2011 while Balance of Month CFR Japan Naphtha Swaps and Balance-of-Month FOB Korea Benzene Swaps clearing will be offered from 1 February 2012.

Ms Julie Heng Head of Commodities at SGX said "We are extending our OTC product suite in response to market demands, offering greater breadth of trading tools to our customers. These products offer traders and market participants additional risk management tools which will help to support the growth of the coal and petrochemical markets in the region. We are continuing with our strategy of building AsiaClear, Asia's first and only clearing service for OTC commodities and financial derivatives."

Singapore SMX iron ore futures volume tops 1 million tonnes in Sept

Wednesday, 05 Oct 2011

Reuters the exchange said reflecting strong interest in the cash-settled hedging tool that the volume of iron ore futures contracts traded on the Singapore Mercantile Exchange reached 1.1 million tonnes in September.

SMX owned by India Financial Technologies, introduced its cash settled iron ore futures contract on August 12. The contract is the world first dollar-priced iron ore futures open to global investors seeking to hedge prices of the steelmaking ingredient.

Last month trading volume represents a fourth of the volume of iron ore forward swaps cleared by rival Singapore Exchange in August which at a record 4.3 million tonnes comprised around two thirds of the global total.

SGX which launched its iron ore swaps in April 2009 said separately on Tuesday that volumes dropped to 7,957 lots in September equivalent to 3.98 million tonnes from 8,564 lots in August.

The world biggest buyer of iron ore, SMX said in a statement that there has been active interest in the SMX contract from players in physical and financial markets including traders based in China

Mr Vaidyalingam Hariharan SMX interim chief executive said in the statement that "Based on the response that the iron ore futures contract is receiving we are confident of creating a robust benchmark for the iron ore industry."

The shift to quarterly pricing for iron ore contracts from annual pricing since April last year spurred interest in hedging instruments as mills and traders managed their costs against spot prices IODBZ00-PLT which have tripled since late 2008.

(Sourced from Reuters)

Singapore SMX eyes May launch of iron ore futures

Mon Mar 21, 2011 6:16am EDT
By Rujun Shen

SINGAPORE : McMahon said Asia could benefit as more and more regulatory framework is expected to be put in place in Europe and the United States.

"The opportunity is that the framework here is robust, and people are doing business in Asia. Their clients are in Asia, their operations in Asia, their banks are in Asia, so the logical conclusion is that they clear and trade in Asia."

But the lack of regulatory collaboration across the border is a barrier.

"You're seeing the rise of China's commodities exchange and India's commodity exchanges, but you still can't get there from here," he said, noting that foreign commodity traders face restrictions in both countries.

(Sourced Reuters)