Region’s premier financial and commodity derivatives exchange, The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) reported a high monthly Average Open Interest (AOI) of 161,259 contracts during August.
DGCX Group’s West Texas Intermediary (WTI) Futures Contract showed significant growth as it recorded 62 percent year-on-year (Y-O-Y) Average Daily Volume (ADV) growth compared to the same period last year.
Substantial growth was recorded in July 2021 which further followed global trends with oil prices reporting the biggest weekly gain in over a year recently as U.S. crude oil production halted.
The Weekly INR-US Dollar (USD) Futures Contract was also among DGCX’s high-interest offerings with a 9 percent year-to-date (Y-T-D) volume growth in August, compared to the same period last year.
The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) Futures Contract again maintained its growth during the month reiterating the steady demand for the product since its launch in April.
The DGCX also recorded a spike in precious metal trading with the Shari’ah Compliant Spot Gold Contract trading six times more compared to the same period in 2020.
During August, the DGCX Group also issued a tender for members interested in applying as Market Makers on the DGCX platform, as part of its Designated Market Making scheme. The 12-month program will run from January 03, 2022, until December 30, 2022, and will encourage market participants to further bolster trading activity and liquidity on the exchange, thus making prices more efficient for the DGCX’s member base. 24th September 2021 is the currently stipulated closing date for receiving applications.
Les Male, CEO of DGCX, said, “In August, the DGCX saw market participants leverage several of our contracts for a variety of hedging and investment purposes. These were stimulated by managing exposure to volatility in the oil markets, capitalizing on gains in the INR and diversifying into new geographies. As we continue to receive interest in our contracts, we believe it is important to continue driving liquidity, and have recently invited our members to act as market makers on the exchange. The initative will pave the way for increased market activity across our portfolio and support our strategic objective of generating stronger trading activity that continues to strengthen Dubai’s growth and development for commodities, FX and equities trading.”
