February turned out to be a rather successful month at the Moscow Exchange, the biggest venue for trading currencies and derivatives in Russia and CIS.
Earlier today, MOEX posted its operating metrics for the second month of 2015, with the results removing much of the gloom seen in January 2015, when FX volumes in the platform fell steeply on a monthly basis. February offered some decent improvement, as:
- The FX Market’s average daily turnover was RUB 1,030.7 billion (USD 15.9 billion) in February 2015, marking a 37.4% rise against the result seen in January 2015.
- The monthly volume of RUB 19.6 trillion was also robust, especially given the fact that February is the smallest month of the year. We should bear in mind though that as far as Russia’s calendar is concerned, February has fewer holidays than January. So here is a seasonal factor to keep an eye on.
- In February 2015, spot trades generated RUB 7.8 trillion and swap trades generated volume of RUB 11.8 trillion. This marks improvement in both monthly and annual terms, with the monthly rise being steeper.
It is now time to take a look at the other markets and their fortunes in February 2015.
Precious Metals Market
This trading segment is particularly worth mentioning, as its turnover rose 5.5 times against levels seen in February 2014 and surpassed RUB 4.0 billion (1.6 t) for gold and RUB 6.3 million (187 kg) for silver. Fifty-one organisations participated in the Precious Metals Market – 42 banks and nine investment companies. Moscow Exchange launched its Precious Metals Market at the end of 2013.
Derivatives Market
The Derivatives Market saw volumes surge 25.7% in annual terms to RUB 6.6 trillion or 116.9 million contracts, of which 114.1 mln contracts were futures and 2.8 mln contracts were options.
Open interest at the end of the month was RUB 619.8 bln (February 2014: RUB 659.8 bln).
Money Market
The Money Market turnover amounted to RUB 17.7 trillion, up from RUB 14.5 trillion recorded in February 2014. The average daily turnover was RUB 930.3 billion (February 2014: RUB 727.3 bln).
The volume of repo transactions with the CCP was RUB 3.2 trillion (February 2014: RUB 1.4 trln), with the average daily turnover increasing by 150% against February 2014 to RUB 168.7 billion.
Equity & Bond Market
Secondary market turnover in stocks, RDRs, and investment fund units increased 34.6% on annual basis to RUB 931.3 billion (February 2014: RUB 691.9 billion). The average daily turnover was RUB 49 billion (February 2014: RUB 34.6 billion).
The full monthly report by the Moscow Exchange can be found here.