The spot gold price surged to a near-23-year high at US$503 an ounce in Comex, NY a few days ago. It is the best time for TAIFEX to launch its gold futures contract . This is also the first commodity futures product in Taiwan. In order for the investors to gain some understanding of this product, the topics of the seminar mostly concerned the functions, outlooks and operation of the gold futures. Mr. John Carter, President of Trade the Market, spoke of the Gold as a hedge against the US Dollars. Under the threat of rampant terrorism, Mr. Carter predicted the demand for gold will only increase in the foreseeable future. Mr. Kazuhiko Senzaki ,Executive Director of TOCOM , shared TOCOM’s successful development experience in gold futures . He also provided insightful suggestions for TAIFEX in developing gold futures. Mr. Ikemizu Yuichi ,Head trader of Mitsui Tokyo, Precious Metals Department , covered the international trading strategies of gold futures and briefly introduced current status of some major gold futures exchanges. The panel , moderated by president of TAIFEX Dr,Foo-shiung Ho, elaborated on the FCM’s point of views regarding the reforms and outlooks of Taiwan’s futures market.
TAIFEX continues its growth in 2005 . The daily average trading volume amounted to 361,174 contracts as of the end of October, an increase of 53% as compared to 2004. To enhance the depth of the market and increase the participation of institutional investors, TAIFEX has applied and received No-Action Letters issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission(CFTC) for its TAIEX futures, Mini TAIEX futures, Electronic Sector Index futures(TE) and the Finance Sector Index futures(TF). Currently, the application for Part 30 exemption is underway.In addition, TAIFEX is planning to allow non-hedgintg purpose trading and omnibus account for foreign participants. In the area of product development, TAIFEX will launch International board products, including US dollar denominated gold futures and stock index futures and options next year. This seminar not only raised the understanding and interests of investors in futures products/ international futures market. It also served as “ warm-up” for the TAIFEX gold futures contract to be launched 2006. The seminar ended successfully around 5 :00pm yesterday afternoon.