Options trading soon on comexes

The government has notified changes to a law that allows commodity exchanges to offer options contracts and gives more autonomy to the Forward Markets Commission (FMC), which regulates the country's 24 commodity futures markets.

The government notified the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Amendment Ordinance, 2008, with immediate effect, the food ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), partly owned by Fidelity International, and National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) allow investors to trade futures in more than 50 commodities, including gold, sugar, coffee and cotton. They will now be allowed to offer index futures and weather derivatives.