Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) has disclosed its market metrics for January 2019, which saw a mixed performance across its securities and derivatives business, according to an HKEx statement.
During the reported period, HKEx saw average daily volumes of futures and options coming in at 1.09 million contracts, which was lower by 23 percent year-on-year from 1.41 million contracts in January 2018.
Year-to-date, the average daily turnover of stock options at the operator of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was 445,669 contracts, an increase of 15 percent relative to 386,276 contracts reported for the same period last year.
Meanwhile, the average daily turnover of stock futures in January 2019 was 5,821 contracts, an increase of 643 percent when compared with the 783 contracts for January 2018.
Delving into specific product types and instruments, the Exchange ’s RMB Currency Futures achieved a steadfast level of growth, broadly higher than the extent of its overall trading figures. In particular, HKEx unveiled its average daily turnover of RMB Currency Futures in January 2019 was 7,817 contracts, an increase of 55 percent when compared with the 5,050 contracts a year ago.
Orion Platform for securities market
HKEX’s funds raised via IPOs for the first month of 2019 was $300 million, an increase of 50 percent when compared with $200 million for the year prior.
Earlier this month, HKEX launched its new securities trading system for the Hong Kong market, the Orion Trading Platform – Securities Market (OTP-C).
In addition, the Hong Kong exchange recently solidified its position as a major hub for trading on offshore renminbi (CNH) and US dollar (USD) gold futures.
The exchange operator sees an opportunity as increasing regulatory scrutiny is raising costs for banks trading gold over the counter (OTC) in bilateral deals. Regulators are pushing for a more transparent, centrally-cleared model.
The instruments were designed to add another layer of gold trading, aiming for a chunk of the multi-billion dollar gold business, and will include contracts for spot and monthly futures.
