TFEX to raise gold, silver margins
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Thailand Futures Exchange will substantially raise margins on gold and silver futures, to cope with intensifying risks in the trading of such instrument.
Effective on April 22, the margin for the Bt50 gold futures would be raised by Bt40,000 to Bt76,000 per contract. That of Bt10 gold futures will be raised by Bt8,000 to Bt15,200 and silver futures by Bt5,500 to Bt10,450.
A number of 18,827 gold futures were changed hands on April 17. The contract for June delivery was settled at Bt19,050, down 11.2 per cent from Friday's level at Bt21,450. It is based on the price per baht weight of physical gold.
Gold futures slumped on April 17, when the Thai market opened after the long Songkran festival. Gold prices in major markets like London and Hong Kong have fallen sharply since last week. Year to date, they have slumped by 18 per cent.
To cope with higher volatility, TFEX also temporarily adjusted the rules on gold futures block trade. The minimum block trade is changed from 100 contracts to 1 contract.
