Dubai commodities exchange makes its debut

[Paciente]

Dubai commodities exchange makes its debut

November 22, 2005


Dubai - The first electronic commodities market in the Middle East, the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), opened for trading on Tuesday.

The first symbolic trade of Dubai Gold Futures (symbol DG) was initiated by Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al Maktoum, who is also defence minister of the United Arab Emirates.

Al Maktoum's sell bid was met with a buy order from Dubai Metals and Commodities Centre chairman Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem.

The Gulf region's first commodities derivatives market aims to fill the time gap between trading on the Tokyo and London stock markets and take advantage of growing interest in gold boosted by record prices.

Regular trading was scheduled to kick off at 10.00am local time (9.00am South Africa time) and run until 11.00pm (8.00pm South Africa time) in a bid to attract European and US traders.

The exchange will operate initially from Monday through Friday but trading will be extended to seven days a week in the first quarter of 2006.

Around 40 global and regional financial institutions have already received approval to start trading on the exchange, with another 40 approximately waiting for their applications to be processed.

The exchange is a joint venture between Financial Technologies (India), Multi Commodity Exchange of India and Dubai Metals and Commodities Centre.