The Thailand Futures Exchange plc (TFEX), a subsidiary of The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), announces the increase of margin rates on gold futures and interest rate futures, effective from September 19, 2011, to cope with higher market volatility.
“Gold prices and interest rates are increasingly fluctuating. Consequently, TFEX and Thailand’s clearing house have decided to raise margin rates of the futures products,” said TFEX Managing Director Kesara Manchusree.
“Because the new rates are largely changed, we would like to notify investors in advance, enabling them to reserve extra cash in case it is needed. During the market’s high volatility, trading volume tends to increase as investors need to adjust their position, take profit or cut loss. This is evidenced in August when TFEX’s daily trading volume hit a record high of 122,572 contracts on August 25, 2011. However, we are very confident that our trading system can handle such volume growth,” said Kesara.
After the revision, the new margin rate of retail clients for 50-Baht gold futures will be THB 92,150 per contract, from THB 74,100, and the 10-Baht gold futures’ margin rate will be increased to THB 18,430 per contract, from THB 14,820.
For interest rate futures, the 6-month THBFIX’s margin rate will become THB 21,850 per contract, from THB 10,450, and the margin rate of 5-Year government bond futures will be THB 9,500 per contract, from THB 5,890. In addition, margin rates of stock futures for seven underlying stocks will be raised as well.