Singapore Exchange (SGX) has introduced three new Asian Index Futures to provide investors wider access to almost all of Asia’s key capital and growth markets.
The new contracts, the SGX-PSE MSCI Philippines Index Futures, SGX MSCI Thailand Index Futures and SGX MSCI India Index Futures, complement SGX’s e suite of equity derivatives offerings.
The three new contracts will commence trading from 25 November 2013.
Investors seeking exposure into ASEAN markets can tap on the Philippines and Thailand index products. ASEAN is a growing proportion of global asset portfolios, currently representing 19 per cent of the MSCI AC Asia Ex Japan Index. In the medium term, these economies offer huge demographic and capital market potential and opportunities. The quanto feature (USD-denominated contracts) will also guard customers from having to deal with multiple onshore currencies.
“As an offshore hub, SGX is facilitating the flow of global capital into Asia. As these market exposures are currently being traded in the over-the-counter market, the offering of exchange listed Futures will help foster greater market transparency and price discovery. There will also be reduced bilateral counterparty risks for the exchange-listed contracts, backed by robust risk management and market surveillance frameworks of the SGX clearinghouse,” says Michael Syn, head of derivatives at SGX.
For both on screen and off screen liquidity, SGX has secured participation from leading market makers including Barclays Capital Securities, Goldman Sachs Futures and Virtu Financial Singapore.
