PMEX posts record trade volumes for August

Contracts worth Rs129b traded on the exchange.


Our Correspondent September 04, 2012

KARACHI: The Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX) recorded monthly trading volumes at an all-time high for the month of August 2012. A total of 325,000 contracts, worth Rs129 billion, were traded on the exchange during the month, says a statement released on Monday. The previous trading record of Rs119 billion was achieved in June this year.

The PMEX, which is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, is the only exchange in Pakistan that deals in commodity futures contracts. Inaugurated in May 2007, it is the only regulated platform through which investors can buy, sell and trade gold, silver, crude oil and other futures commodities.

A futures contract in the PMEX obligates a buyer/seller to trade a physical commodity at a predetermined future date and price.

“Our product mix has been growing for quite some time now, as investors become familiar with different products,” the statement quoted PMEX Chief Business Officer Mansoor Ali as saying. “While gold has been the dominant product since the beginning, an improvement in crude oil trading has also been witnessed of late. It has reached a market share of 39% in the overall product mix of the PMEX, as it increased from Rs8.2 billion in August 2011 to Rs47 billion in August 2012, showing a rise of 473%.”

This reinforces the view that investors are trading crude oil as an instrument for hedging their fuel bills, the statement said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4th, 2012.

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