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December Volume Averaged 109,689 Contracts per Day, Down 17.5% M-on-M
The Tokyo Commodity Exchange announced today that average daily trading volume for December 2014 was 109,689 contracts, down 17.5% from November. On a year-on-year basis, it was up 39.7%. Some of TOCOM’s leading commodities saw increases in volume: Crude Oil was up 30.9% to 7,322 contracts and Rubber was up 8.6% to 10,572 contracts. Others such as Gold, the Exchange’s most traded commodity, decreased (down 35.6% to 43,671 contracts) and pushed down overall volume.
TOCOM Crude Oil traders remained bearish throughout the month on persistant fears of oversupply. IEA and OPEC reports were issued forcasting increased supply and slowing demand in 2015, which drove prices lower. Crude Oil fell to 42,530 yen per kiloliter on December 17, the lowest in over 4 years. There were some short-lived rallies on the announcement of strong U.S. economic indicators.
2014 Annual Volume was 21,856,063 Contracts, Down 18.6%
Total trading volume for 2014 was 21,856,063 contracts, down 18.6% from the previous year. The total value of trading for the year was 65,317,620,792,800 yen, down 23.9% year-on-year.
TOCOM markets were subdued until August, with limited volatility in commodity prices and foreign exchange. From September onwards, however, the market regained strength as the yen weakened and commodity prices became volatile on expectation of an econimic recovery in the U.S. as well as falling crude oil prices. The effects of busiess in the first half of the year limited the overall growth of annual volume.
Open interest at the end of 2014 was 291,690 contracts, a decrease of 9,093 contracts from the end of 2013 (300,783 contracts).
