(Photo: Bloomberg)
Starting from today, a new foreign Exchange futures contract is available to traders on the Moscow Exchange. The venue is now offering Chinese renminbi contracts denominated in Russian rubles which marks a milestone for renminbi traders on the Russian market.
According to the announcement made by the Moscow Exchange, the launch has been driven by increasing interest in trading the Chinese yuan. Volumes have been growing as Russia and China have been drawing closer together in the aftermath of economic sanctions imposed by the E.U. and the U.S. after the Russian invasion of Crimea, which was recently confirmed by President Putin.
The First Deputy CEO of Moscow Exchange, Andrey Shemetov said, "the launch of the CNY/RUB futures is the next step made by the Moscow Exchange to offer a full range of Renminbi instruments and hedging tools to participants.”
“We expect that the new contract will be liquid and in-demand as other Exchange's derivatives, and facilitate the trade turnover between China and Russia,” he explained.
The contract is cash-settled against the Moscow Exchange CNY/RUB fixing and is expiring on every 15th day of March, June, September, and December. The market maker for the contract is Metallinvestbank, while the initial margin requirement will be 12%.
Moscow Exchange's turnover in the Chinese Renminbi grew 700% in 2014 to RUB 395 bln (CNY 48 bln). The record average daily trading volume of CNY 541 mln was seen last October.
With the new offering is the Moscow Exchange's derivatives market now offers nine FX futures: USD/RUB, EUR/RUB, EUR/USD, AUD/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, CNY/RUB, USD/UAH, USD/CAD, and USD/TRY, as well as three options contracts: USD/RUB, EUR/USD, and EUR/RUB.
