Derivatives continue to be the biggest contributor to the growth and development of trading in Singapore, Asia’s only AAA rated country. In 2013, the total volume and daily average volume of derivatives increased 40% to 112 million and 459,362 contracts respectively, according to the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
During the month of December 2013, the daily average volume of derivatives increased 6% year-on-year. from the same period in 2012. Derivatives total volumes grew 12% to 8.9 million contracts.
Six years ago Singapore built a new derivatives infrastructure and has invested approximately S$30 million to S$40 million per year in ongoing development.
Singapore provides an access route to a number of Asian countries via single country Asian equity futures, including China, India and Taiwan. Indonesian futures were introduced in 2012.
In 2013, trading in China A50 and India Nifty futures reached a record year’s volume of 21 million and 16 million contracts respectively. Volume of Nikkei 225 futures trading also hit a record high of 39 million contracts.
SGX indicated during 2013 that developing its securities business will be its next area of focus. During the year, securities daily average value increased 10% to S$1.4 billion and exchange-traded fund turnover tripled to S$3.2 billion. In December 2013 securities turnover was down 16% to S$20 billion year-on-year.