The Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX), the first pan-Asian commodity and currency derivatives exchange, has announced that it will commence trading on 31 August 2010.
SMX, which is backed by India-based exchange platform provider Financial Technologies, has received approval to operate as a fully-licensed exchange from national regulator the Monetary Authority of Singapore and has also completed conformance testing with software vendors and with member firms ahead of its launch.
The initial products that will be available for trading include gold futures contracts, West Texas Intermediate and Brent-Euro crude oil contracts and US dollar contracts, with further product launches planned after consultation with industry participants.
“SMX's platform will herald Asia's first stand-alone and next-generation global derivatives exchange for unrestricted cross-border trading in futures, options and other derivatives across multiple asset classes,” said Jignesh Shah, vice chairman of SMX and group CEO of Financial Technologies Group. “We are looking forward to our newest venture to establish a footprint for transparent electronic trading that will manifest itself as a major platform for price discovery for commodities trading in Asia.”
“We are witnessing Asia's expanding influence on the global commodities market. The launch [of SMX] will provide market players in Asia the flexibility to trade products generic to regional trade flows within the Asian business day,” added Thomas J. McMahon, CEO, SMX.