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The Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange began trading U.S. dollar-denominated gold futures on its electronic platform Wednesday, the first day of trading for an exchange launched in an attempt to lure commodities traders in the rapidly growing Asian-Pacific economies away from bourses in Chicago and London.
The exchange, which was originally slated to launch trading by the end of 2009, offers a 32-troy-ounce gold futures contract priced in U.S. dollars with physical delivery in Hong Kong. Trading hours are from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Hong Kong time, or 0000 GMT to 1500 GMT, overlapping commodity markets in Europe and the U.S.
HKMEx gold for August delivery ended trading Wednesday at US$1,498.50 a troy ounce. A total of 3,929 contracts were traded.
The first transaction on the exchange was conducted by exchange member ICBC International Futures Ltd. at 8:00 a.m. local time, the exchange said in a statement.
"With our launch today, we are well on our way to becoming the world's gateway for commodities trading with China," said Albert Helmig, the exchange's president.
The exchange began trading with 18 members, among them financial institutions and futures commission merchants as well as several brokerage firms in Hong Kong.
En+ Group Ltd., the investment company controlled by Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and state-owned shipping giant China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co. have stakes in the exchange.
The launch of the exchange was delayed by the global financial crisis in 2009 as well as system testing. It received trading authorization from the Securities and Futures Commission, the city's securities regulator, on April 27.
Copyright: The Wall Street Journal
