A $7.5 billion futures trade has a tepid start post shift to India

The trading of India stock futures that shifted to Gujarat from Singapore last week met with lukewarm reception, suggesting apprehension among some equity investors about the success of the switch.

The average number of open contracts for NSE International Exchange’s key product GIFT Nifty was 32,934 in the week to July 7, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s lower than the 60,884 future contracts in the first five trading days in April, May, and June traded on Singapore Exchange Ltd. The contracts had a notional value of about $7.5 billion when the switch in trading venue was made.

Trading in SGX Nifty, the SGX-traded futures on India’s key equity NSE Nifty 50 Index, was shifted to the NSE International Exchange at GIFT City on July 3, in a triumph for the South Asian nation’s attempt to bring back the transactions that had moved to global financial centers.

“Four-five days are not enough to judge a trend but we are hopeful that by the end of the month volumes will pick up,” said V. Balasubramaniam, chief executive officer of NSE IX Ltd., a unit of National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. “There could be some apprehension among certain traders.”

The bourse is processing membership applications from many local brokers which will allow them trading on four products, including GIFT Nifty 50 and GIFT Nifty Bank, he added.