National Stock Exchange kicks off trade, logs Rs 290-crore volume on the first day.
India kept its date with currency futures trading today, with Finance minister P Chidambaram clicking the first trade on the National Stock Exchange this morning.
The much-hyped currency futures debuted with a turnover of nearly Rs 291 crore, which many said, is a good volume on the debut day.
Chidambaram said the market regulators should consider allowing more than one currency for futures and permit foreign institutional investors and non-resident investors to hedge in this market also. At present only US dollar-rupee futures are allowed and FIIs are barred from this market.
He also said India should offer exchange-traded interest rate and credit derivatives and boost the corporate bond market to keep pace with Dubai and Singapore as financial centers.
“These three are a priority,’’ Chidambaram said at an event commemorating the start of currency futures at the NSE here today. '' We need to work toward the removal of entry barriers for domestic companies and foreign financial firms in all segments in the financial services industry.’’
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The proposal to introduce interest rate futures was promised by Chidambaram in his last Budget speech. A committee comprising the Reserve Bank of India and the Securities Exchange Board of India is currently looking into the matter.
Speaking on the occasion, Sebi Chairman C B Bhave advised the intermediaries in the currency futures market to maintain discipline and avoid excessive speculation.
Aseem Dhru, MD HDFC Securities, said the volumes in the market was good to begin with and day futures were taking cues from the movement of forward dollar rates from the OTC market.
Nearly 70,000 contracts were traded on the NSE today and most of it was in September contract. The dollar touched low of 43.83 and closed 44.02 per dollar. The August 2009 dollar contract closed at Rs 45.05, indicating a premium of 103 paisa. In the spot market, dollar closed at Rs 43.95.
East India Securities struck the first futures deal buying 50 November contracts at Rs 44.15 a dollar for its client Budge Budge Refineries. ICICI Bank Ltd. sold 100 September contracts for Infosys between Rs 43.835 and Rs 43.8375.
According to NSE, the first trade on the exchange was by East India Securities Ltd. Among the bank participants, HDFC Bank carried out the first trade. The largest trade was by Standard Chartered Bank constituting 15,000 contracts. Banks’ share of the total gross volume was 40 per cent.
The 12 serial month contracts were available for trading i.e., September 2008 to August 2009. The most active contract was September 2008 expiry with around 43,000 contracts being traded. The near-month contract traded at a premium of 0.40 per cent to the spot price. Around 300 trading members, including 11 Banks were registered in this segment.”