Mumbai: The National Stock Exchange (NSE)
which launched interest rate futures (IRF) on Monday, registered a trade volume of Rs 267.31 crore on Day 1, the NSE said in a statement here.
Trading in interest rate futures was earlier inaugurated
by Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla, in the presence of SEBI
Chairman C B Bhave and RBI Deputy Governor, Shyamala Gopinath.
Interest rate futures on NSE are based on a notional ten
year GOI bond, bearing a notional 7 per cent interest rate
coupon payable half-yearly. The tradable lot size is Rs 2 lakh.
Market participants responded enthusiastically to the
product launch on the first day. In around five hours of
trading time available after inauguration, 1,475 trades were
recorded resulting in 14,559 contracts being traded at a total
value of Rs 267.31 crore, the NSE said.
Out of the two quarterly contracts available for trading,
December 2009 was the most active with 13,789 contracts being
traded. The bid-ask spread was observed to be around one tick
i.e. quarter paisa most of the time, it said.
Nearly 638 members have registered for this new products
out of which 21 are banks. The contribution by banks in the
total gross volume was 32.48 per cent. Amongst banks, Union
Bank of India was most active bank.
State Bank of India was the first PSU bank to trade, while Central Bank of India has executed the single largest
trade.
In the domestic private bank category, HDFC Bank executed the first trade. Bank of America, IDBI Bank and Axis Bank also
actively participated, the NSE said.
"After launching currency futures last year and interest rate futures today, we want to see how to introduce more and
more products on the exchange traded platform and settled through central clearing entity which gives settlement
gurantee," Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chiarman, C B Bhave, said after the launch of interest rate
futures here.
Finance Secretary, Ashok Chawla, said that volumes were not the only thing. The manner in which the market develops is very important, he said.
Banks and FIIs can also participate in interest rate futures within the regulatory framework, Chawla said, adding
that this is expected to give a push to this product.
Interest rate futures will be useful to those who have a view on the future interest rates and would like to benefit
from interest rate movements. It is also expected to help those who have large a portfolio of GoI securities and would
like to hedge against losses from interest rate movements, the
NSE said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, August 31, 2009, 23:28