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DGCX WTI Futures contract draws strong demand

The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) registered a high monthly Average Open Interest (AOI) of 161,259 contracts during August.

The DGCX Group saw its West Texas Intermediary (WTI) Futures Contract gain traction last month, registering year-on-year (Y-O-Y) Average Daily Volume (ADV) growth of 62 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The rise was noticeable from July 2021 and followed global trends, with oil prices recently posting its biggest weekly gain in over a year, as energy firms began shutting US production.

Additionally, the DGCX’s Weekly INR-US Dollar (USD) Futures Contract continued to generate interest from market participants, recording a year-to-date (Y-T-D) volume growth of nine per cent in August, compared to the same period last year. The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) Futures Contract again maintained its growth during the month. Once again, this growth illustrates increased demand for the product since its launch in April. Additionally, the DGCX recorded a spike in trading in its precious metal’s portfolio this month, with the Shari’ah Compliant Spot Gold Contract trading six times more compared to the same period in 2020.

During August, the DGCX Group also issued a tender for members interested in applying as Market Makers on the DGCX platform, as part of its Designated Market Making scheme. The program will run for a period of 12 months - from January 3, 2022, until December 30, 2022 - and will encourage market participants to further bolster trading activity and liquidity on the exchange, thus making prices more efficient for the DGCX’s member base. The closing date for receiving applications is September 24, 2021.

The group will host a webinar about Marketing Making Opportunities at DGCX on September 7, 2021.

Les Male, CEO of DGCX, said: "In August, the DGCX saw market participants leverage several of our contracts for a variety of hedging and investment purposes. These were stimulated by managing exposure to volatility in the oil markets, capitalizing on gains in the INR and diversifying into new geographies. As we continue to receive interest in our contracts, we believe it is important to continue driving liquidity, and have recently invited our members to act as market makers on the exchange."

He added: "The initative will pave the way for increasing market activity across our portfolio and support our strategic objective of generating stronger trading activity that continues to strengthen Dubai’s growth and development for commodities, FX and equities trading."

Wam