The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), the region's largest and most diversified derivatives exchange, witnessed an eventful month of trading across its precious metals, base metals and currency segments in April. The recently listed DGCX Shanghai Gold Futures Contract (DSGC) has had a positive knock-on effect on the trading activity of the Exchange's other gold products. The DSGC, which uniquely allows access to the Chinese Gold market, traded a total of 2,946 contracts since its listing on March 10. DGCX's Spot Gold contract saw impressive six-fold growth year-on-year, while also recording a 74% increase in deliveries through the DMCC Tradeflow platform. There's also been a growing optimism for gold, especially on the back of Brexit and French election uncertainty. DGCX's recent MoU with RAKBANK to develop gold products for the retail segment is also a clear sign of this precious metal's rising popularity in a period of political uncertainty among both institutional and retail investors alike. Gaurang Desai, CEO of the DGCX, said "we are pleased to see our product suite, volumes and member community grow consistently. This helps us to create a vibrant, exciting and well regulated marketplace for all market participants across asset classes." "Our Indian rupee product range is maturing as contracts with long-dated expiries began to trade more regularly. This signifies that traders are beginning to look at the forward implications of the trading oscillations in the Indian rupee. This contributes to achieving greater trading depth on the Indian Rupee curve," added Gaurang. Volumes in G6 currencies rode high on the back of volatility caused by French elections and the recently announced plans for ambitious tax cuts by the Trump administration in the USA. Volumes in Yen and Canadian dollar contracts grew by 65% and 226% respectively, with both the contracts recording the highest ever OI (Open Interest). Volumes in pound sterling also grew moving up by 81% year to date. Another notable performer was Copper Futures which saw a substantial jump of 461% from March, recording it's highest volume over the last two years, as physical traders look for safer and more transparent venues to trade. — SG
