SGX's FX Futures Volume Climbs 6% YoY in H2 2021

Singapore Exchange (SGX) today released its market statistics for December 2021. Risk-management demand drove volume gains across equity and commodity derivatives, amid cautious optimism that the global economic recovery remained on track.

Derivatives traded volume on SGX rose 5% year-on-year in December to 19.3 million contracts, the highest in three months. Equity index futures volume climbed 7% y-o-y, led by a 22% y-o-y increase in SGX FTSE China A50 Index Futures and a 20% y-o-y gain in SGX MSCI Singapore Index Futures. For the October-to-December quarter, SGX Nifty 50 Index Futures volume was up 6% over the preceding quarter, while SGX Nikkei 225 Index Futures added 3%.

Commodity derivatives volume on SGX gained 8% y-o-y in December to 2.6 million contracts, amid a rebound in physical bulk trading activity and strong growth in freight derivatives. Benchmark iron ore derivatives rose 8% y-o-y while forward freight agreement (FFA) contracts jumped 47% y-o-y.

For the July-to-December period, commodity derivatives volume increased 17% over the same half-year in 2020, with FFAs rising 90%, petrochemicals gaining 28% and iron ore up 15%.

In foreign exchange (FX), a core growth pillar in SGX's multi-asset strategy, futures volume climbed 6% for the July-to-December period over the same half-year in 2020, with SGX USD/CNH Futures up 9% and SGX INR/USD Futures up 3%.

With 2021 marking 20 years since ETFs were introduced on SGX, combined assets under management (AUM) of ETFs listed on the exchange gained 47% y-o-y to S$12.55 billion as of the end December. Market turnover value rose 11% y-o-y over the same period in 2020 to S$2.4 billion. The overall product offering on SGX expanded to 35 ETFs from 30.