SGX JGB Futures Break Records; Interest In MECO Futures Growing

Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGX) yesterday announced that its Mini Japanese Government Bond (JGB) Futures contract traded a record volume of 54,567 contracts on 7 March 2003, surpassing its previous record of 38,860 contracts set on 5 December 2000. Its open interest also reached a record of 55,443 contracts on the same day, exceeding its previous record of 33,639 contracts on 5 Jun 2001.

The SGX Middle East Crude Oil (MECO) Futures contract has been attracting more interest since the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) changed some features of its MECO futures contract to align it with the SGX contract. Starting with the listing of its August 2003 Contract Month in end February, TOCOM has changed the Last Trading Day and Final Settlement Price to be the same as those for SGX MECO Futures. The positive impact of this co-operative alignment between the TOCOM and SGX MECO Futures contracts will increase as more Contract Months listed on both exchanges share a common final settlement basis. This will facilitate more inter-exchange hedging, trading and arbitrage activities between SGX and TOCOM. Meanwhile, open interest in the SGX MECO Futures contract has grown to a new high of 367 contracts on 10 March 2003.