SGX FX Volumes Mixed in August

Singapore Exchange (SGX) saw mixed results in its listed FX business in August, with overall volumes down from July in absolute terms, but up in average daily volume (ADV) terms.

SGX says its FX futures and options volume in August was just short of 5.55 million contracts, down from just over 6 million in July. This represents an 8% drop on a monthly basis and is broadly unchanged year-on-year, at down 0.5%. In ADV terms, however the news was better due to there being fewer trading days in August – ADV was 264,236 contracts, up fractionally – 0.7% – from July and up 4.2% year-on-year.

USD/CNH, SGX’ biggest FX contract, saw a similar pattern of activity, total volume was down 7.9% from July, but on an ADV basis actually rose slightly, by 0.9%. Year-on-year, USD/CNH activity fell by 16% in absolute terms and was 11.7% down in ADV terms. The exchange’s second largest FX contract, USD/INR saw total activity drop 4.4% from July to 2,121,676 contracts, but this is up 24% year-on-year. Again, in ADV terms, the news was better with activity rising 4.7%, year-on-year INR ADV was up 29.9%.

SGX says in notional volume terms, CNH averaged $13.8 billion per day in August, while INR hit $2.55 billion per day. It adds that CNH FX options saw a new ADV high of $322 million per day.