Fin futures okay in china
China looks set to begin trading futures on the Shanghai-Shenzhen 300 index in September now that the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has licensed more than 40 brokerages to trade on the China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFE), the state-run China Securities Journal reported in mid-August. The index will initially be offered only to Chinese investors, but a number of U.S. investment banks have entered into agreements with Chinese brokers to market within China.
Hong Kong Weighs Commodities
The government of Hong Kong has commissioned a study on the viability of launching commodity futures on HKEx, beginning with crude oil.
The economic need for such a contract is open to debate — but even more questionable is appetite among Hong Kong speculators for commodity-based investments.
Cargill Expands
Cargill looks set to take full ownership of Hungarian grain and oilseed trading company Agrograin, the former government-owned national exporter, in which Cargill has had a stake since 1995.
Aussies Move on Carbon Cap
Australia’s federal government looks set to launch a nationwide, mandatory cap-and-trade scheme for carbon emission allowances — despite Prime Minister John Howard’s opposition to the Kyoto Protocol. As in the United States, regional voluntary schemes have won wide nominal support in Australia, but have failed to attract the kinds of volumes seen in compliance markets like the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme.
More dollar palm oil
Bursa Malaysia says it’s launching a dollar-denominated crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract in September to run alongside its successful ringgit-denominated contract — and compete with
the dollar-denominated contract running on the Joint Asian Derivatives Exchange (JADE), a joint venture between Singapore’s SGX and the CBOT.
It’s official
Société Générale and Calyon in August signed the final merger agreement of the brokerage activities carried out by their respective subsidiaries Fimat and Calyon Financial. The launch of the new entity, to be called Newedge, is scheduled for early 2008 subject to regulatory approval. Newedge will have bank status and be headquartered in Paris.
Patrice Blanc, chairman and CEO of the Fimat Group, will be appointed CEO of Newedge, and Richard Ferina, Calyon Financial’s chairman and CEO, will be deputy CEO.
Based on June 30 CFTC numbers, the combined company will have $12.1 billion in U.S. customer segregated funds, behind only UBS and Goldman Sachs.
USFE to list commodity binaries
The U.S. Futures Exchange (USFE), beginning Oct. 15, will launch weekly binary options based on the performance of individual assets. The contracts will allow investors to take positions on the performance of crude oil, gasoline, gold, silver and the euro. The contracts are valued at $1,000 and will be based on the futures prices of the underlying assets, with the exception of the euro, which will be based on the noon Fed Fund buying rate.
