Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) says it plans to introduce Mini Hang Seng Index (Mini HSI) and Mini H-shares Index (Mini HHI) Futures to its after-hours futures trading session in January 2014.
HKEx’s after-hours futures trading includes Hang Seng Index Futures and H-shares Index Futures.
Mini HSI Futures accounted for about 16% of HKEx’s futures trading volume in the first ten months of the year and Mini HHI Futures accounted for about 4%, according to the exchange.
Calvin Tai, HKEx’s co-head of equities and fixed income and currency, said that market participants have requested after-hours trading of Mini HSI Futures and Mini HHI Futures.
However, not all participants agree about the usefulness of this index product, even within normal trading hours, let alone after-hours.
One Hong Kong-based trader commented.
“In Hong Kong we have Hang Seng futures, and mini Hang Seng Futures. Why did they fragment that market? The mini version doesn’t have the volume and the spreads. I’d prefer to trade the bigger contracts denominated in fractions. Retail traders could use that too, and they could still charge the full exchange fee if they were concerned about their revenue. For marketmakers it would allow for a far more cohesive market.”