Sydney Futures Exchange experienced record daily trading volumes yesterday, and an individual contract daily record for the SFE SPI 200™ Equity Index Future. A total of 972,781 contracts were traded, up from the previous exchange record of 952,296 set on December 13, 2004, whilst the SFE SPI 200™ Index traded a total of 153,147 contracts, up from the previous record of 148,601 set on March 15, 2005.
The record volumes were driven primarily by the contract ‘roll’ process that accompanies the quarterly expiry of both SFE’s suite of interest rate contracts and equity index contracts. Large open positions from both domestic and offshore investors moving into the September contracts ensured steady volumes through-out the trading day, on the back of record trading volumes in the overnight session prior to the day session.
Robert Elstone, Managing Director and CEO of SFE Corporation Limited, the holding company of Sydney Futures Exchange said, “The important aspect of this result is not simply the surpassing of the previous record but rather the continuing upward trend across all of the exchanges benchmark products. This trend underlines the importance of SFE as the primary exchange based source of price discovery and risk transfer in the Australian and New Zealand financial system.”
Peter Hiom, General Manager, Exchange Business Development added, “The growth in the SFE SPI 200™ contract was particularly pleasing following on from its record month in March 2005. Improvements in both distribution and trading access are bringing new customers and larger volumes to this market.”
