02-24-2006, 01:07 AM
<b>Around Asia's Markets: From gold to sugar - India rises in futures</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Average daily trading in India's 25 commodities exchanges this fiscal year probably will more than triple to $1.48 billion, from $445 million a year earlier, said S. Sundareshan, chairman of the Forward Markets Commission, the market regulator in Mumbai. Trading on the National Stock Exchange and the Mumbai Stock Exchange has risen 35 percent to $2.6 billion daily</b>.
The commodities boom has prompted the government to promise access to overseas investors, who can trade futures only through local companies. To get a share of the business, the London- based Man Group acquired a local brokerage firm, while Fidelity International, a unit of the world's biggest money manager, bought 9 percent of an exchange.
"This is the right time to be in India," said Adam Leetham, a sugar trader at C. Czarnikow Sugar (India) in Gurgaon, near New Delhi, which has traded since 1861. "It's a question of the government letting go and letting the markets have a go."
India is the second-biggest producer of sugar and rice, after Brazil and China, respectively, and trades futures in more than 80 commodities. It is the biggest user of gold and is home to the world's third-largest bullion bourse after exchanges in London and New York.
<b>"India represents 30 percent of the world demand for gold," said Yingxi Yu, a precious metals analyst at Barclays Capital in London. "A futures market that is open could serve as a better indication of demand from Indian consumers and also increase consumer interest in the metal."</b>
A more open market would lead to increased trading, which in turn would mean more commissions for brokers. Trading on the London Metal Exchange increased 9.4 percent last year to a record 78.6 million futures and options. The exchange estimates the annual value of the contracts is about $4.5 trillion.
Man Group in November agreed to buy Refco's 70 percent stake in its Indian unit after Refco filed for bankruptcy. The unit controlled about 1.5 percent of the daily trading on Multi Commodity Exchange of India and National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange.
Exchanges are pushing to open the markets to overseas traders and investors this year. The government has responded with a plan to allow foreign institutional investors and mutual funds to trade oil and gold only. Sundareshan at the futures commission said in an interview last week that final approval could be forthcoming "in the next few months."
Agricultural futures that trade around the world also should be included because they are commodities that have a "global benchmark," said Jignesh Shah, managing director of Multi Commodity Exchange in Mumbai. "The recommendation is to go for commodities such as soy and cotton, which you can benchmark against global prices."
<b>India is the largest consumer of sugar, putting the country in a position to wrest the global benchmark price for refined sugar from London.</b>
The rise of India's commodities futures markets has been helped by a global increase in prices of everything from oil to metals to farm products, led by demand from China.
"Everybody says, 'China, China, China,'" said Shah. "But in history, it used to be 'India, India, India.' The basis for India has been as a trading hub in the last century. This has re- emerged in the modern form as futures trading."
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The commodities boom has prompted the government to promise access to overseas investors, who can trade futures only through local companies. To get a share of the business, the London- based Man Group acquired a local brokerage firm, while Fidelity International, a unit of the world's biggest money manager, bought 9 percent of an exchange.
"This is the right time to be in India," said Adam Leetham, a sugar trader at C. Czarnikow Sugar (India) in Gurgaon, near New Delhi, which has traded since 1861. "It's a question of the government letting go and letting the markets have a go."
India is the second-biggest producer of sugar and rice, after Brazil and China, respectively, and trades futures in more than 80 commodities. It is the biggest user of gold and is home to the world's third-largest bullion bourse after exchanges in London and New York.
<b>"India represents 30 percent of the world demand for gold," said Yingxi Yu, a precious metals analyst at Barclays Capital in London. "A futures market that is open could serve as a better indication of demand from Indian consumers and also increase consumer interest in the metal."</b>
A more open market would lead to increased trading, which in turn would mean more commissions for brokers. Trading on the London Metal Exchange increased 9.4 percent last year to a record 78.6 million futures and options. The exchange estimates the annual value of the contracts is about $4.5 trillion.
Man Group in November agreed to buy Refco's 70 percent stake in its Indian unit after Refco filed for bankruptcy. The unit controlled about 1.5 percent of the daily trading on Multi Commodity Exchange of India and National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange.
Exchanges are pushing to open the markets to overseas traders and investors this year. The government has responded with a plan to allow foreign institutional investors and mutual funds to trade oil and gold only. Sundareshan at the futures commission said in an interview last week that final approval could be forthcoming "in the next few months."
Agricultural futures that trade around the world also should be included because they are commodities that have a "global benchmark," said Jignesh Shah, managing director of Multi Commodity Exchange in Mumbai. "The recommendation is to go for commodities such as soy and cotton, which you can benchmark against global prices."
<b>India is the largest consumer of sugar, putting the country in a position to wrest the global benchmark price for refined sugar from London.</b>
The rise of India's commodities futures markets has been helped by a global increase in prices of everything from oil to metals to farm products, led by demand from China.
"Everybody says, 'China, China, China,'" said Shah. "But in history, it used to be 'India, India, India.' The basis for India has been as a trading hub in the last century. This has re- emerged in the modern form as futures trading."
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