India’s Financial Technologies announces plans for the new exchange just weeks after a similar initiative was revealed in Hong Kong, underlining the continued competition between the two trading hubs.
Extracts:
The announcement comes only two weeks after a group of private individuals said that they will be setting up a commodities exchange in Hong Kong in the first quarter of 2009.
The plan is to offer trading in a wide range of commodities from day one. While the specific contracts have yet to be decided and will depend on feedback from the market between now and the launch, they will fall into five categories – basic metals, precious metals, energy, agriculture and exotics (which include things like freight rates and carbon credits) – with each category having at least one contract at launch, according to Shah. The exchange, called the Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX), will also offer trading in commodity indices and currency pairs.
This is a different approach than that taken by the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange, which will start off with just one futures contract focusing on fuel oil and gradually expand its product offering from there. This approach makes sense when considering that the HKMEx is backed by oil trading company Titan Petrochemicals and that the main initiative for the exchange comes from Titan’s former deputy chairman, albeit with the support of several international investment banks, large Chinese enterprises and the Hong Kong government. Full and original text
Source: FinanceAsia by Anette Jonsson 11.07.08
Filed under: News, Asia, Carbon Market, Commodities, Exchanges, Hong Kong, India, SGX Singapore Stock Exchange, Singapore
