Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) announced the launch of the latest futures contracts, part of its new index licensing agreement with finance company MSCI Inc., further expanding product range in Hong Kong’s international financial markets.
HKEX Head of Markets Wilfred Yiu commented:
Wilfred Yiu
Today’s listing completes the current phase of the MSCI futures launch and further diversifies HKEX’s product ecosystem and investor base, making our markets even more vibrant, connected and attractive to our customers around the world.
Yiu added:
Our goal is to make Hong Kong Asia’s derivatives hub. The MSCI derivatives products greatly expand the coverage of underlying assets beyond Hong Kong and Mainland China, to the rest of Asia. During the rollover period in recent weeks, we have seen significant growth in open interest, and liquidity is building strongly in a number of MSCI price return index contracts. We expect this exciting momentum to continue in the coming months as customers around the world look to Hong Kong to meet their trading and investment needs.
The five MSCI index future contracts added today include:
MSCI Taiwan 25/50 (USD) Index Futures
MSCI Taiwan 25/50 Net Total Return (USD) Index Futures
MSCI Singapore Free (SGD) Index Futures
MSCI Japan (JPY) Index Futures
MSCI Japan Net Total Return (JPY) Index Futures
Open interest in MSCI contracts registered significant growth in September during the during the quarterly and monthly roll periods for futures contracts, showing increased demand for the MSCI derivatives products on HKEX. The MSCI Taiwan Net Total Return (NTR) futures contract, in particular, had open interest of $465 million as of 25 September, reporting a rise from $12 million two weeks earlier on 11 September, while open interest in the MSCI China Free NTR futures increased to $233 million from $110 million during the same period.
The exchange has already launched 33 MSCI index futures contracts in July and August. HKEX has completed the listing of all MSCI futures contracts in the current phase with the introduction of the latest batch of futures contracts today. The company plans to launch an MSCI Taiwan options contract later this year, subject to regulatory approvals and market conditions.
In May 2020, HKEX signed a major licensing agreement with MSCI to license a suite of MSCI indexes in Asia and Emerging Markets for for futures and options contracts in Hong Kong. Through the agreement, the existing partnership between the two companies expands holds them to their commitment to a long-term product development and innovation programme in the region.
To support the liquidity development of the contracts, HKEX has introduced incentive programmes for liquidity providers, proprietary traders and block trade participants. The Commission Levy charged by the Securities and Futures Commission will also be exempted for the first six months of trading.
Experienced writer and journalist, working in the global online trading sector, Steffy is the Editor of LeapRate. She has previous experience as a copywriter and has been with the company since January 2020. Steffy has a British and American Studies degree from St. Kliment Ochridski University in Sofia.
