Futures board set to start selling derivatives to foreign investors

Kesara Manchusree, managing director, said yesterday that TFEX would focus on promoting new products that are still inactive, like oil futures and silver futures, while active products will also be promoted to gain more popularity.
TFEX’s proactive business plan, which is likely to be launched early this year, calls for feeding products into the system of its alternatives vendor in Singapore, which will show and sell TFEX’s products to investors across the world. Foreign investors currently account for 5-6 per cent of total trading on TFEX.
Uncertainties in Europe and the United States could shake up global capital markets and TFEX this year. Capital is expected to bounce rapidly between stock and |commodities markets.
TFEX has set two targets for its marketing plan. Active products like SET50 futures and gold futures will see more |promotional activities. These two products account for 80 per cent of total trading on TFEX.
For inactive products like oil futures and silver futures, a campaign will be launched early this year and more market makers will be found in cooperation with Settrade as another channel to reach more retail customers. These are products that debuted in the middle of last year and remain out of favour among investors.
TFEX will join hands with Thai Oil and securities firms to promote oil futures while teaming up with gold traders for silver futures.
“In 2012, improvement of product specifications will be a focus. There will be only currency futures to start trading in the year. Total daily trading volume is targeted at more than 50,000 contracts and investors are expected to increase by 10,000 to 50,000,” Kesara said. Last year, TFEX targeted total daily trading volume of 41,000 contracts and 40,000 investors.
In 2011, TFEX followed through with services and new products, sparking relatively high turnover. Gold futures in particular became a big hit after trading hours were extended. TFEX ranks among the top five in gold futures trading after commodities markets in New York, Tokyo, India and Shanghai.
Asian markets like Korea, Malaysia and Singapore became alert and dispatched their people to study Thailand’s quick success in gold futures, citing a large number of gold traders for active gold futures trading.
As of December 27, 2011, TFEX recorded average daily trading volume of 41,200 |contracts, up from 18,600 contracts in the previous year.
Seven derivatives products are listed on TFEX, with average daily trading of 17,700 SET50 Index futures contracts, up from 10,000 contracts the year before.
Single stock futures saw average daily turnover of 6,490 contracts, up from 4,060 contracts.
SET50 Index options registered an |average of 400 contracts traded daily, close to the prior year’s performance.
Metal futures, consisting of 50-baht-weight gold, 10-baht-weight-gold and silver futures, enjoyed average daily trading of 16,500 contracts, up from 4,010 contracts.