DUBAI- Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange, DGCX, has announced that January 2018 has recorded its best volumes and value ever, growing 40 percent from last year with 1,909,488 lots traded, valued at US$47 billion, or AED172.6 billion.

The main drivers of this strong trading month were the Indian Rupee, G6 currency pairs and the Indian Single Stock Futures, SSF, with the BSE Sensex Futures.

Growing volumes in DGCX Indian SSF contracts following the launch of an additional 44 blue-chip stocks is a direct result of the Exchange meeting the needs of global participants to access Indian markets in an efficient and secure manner. DGCXs Indian SSF products enables local and international investors to trade and participate in the performance of numerous blue-chip Indian stocks that fall within the major indices in India. This has also helped boost the performance in the BSE Sensex Futures, which has seen volume growth of over 120 percent and Open Interest increase by 312 percent since January 2017.

In the currency segment, the G6 currencies started the year by setting the benchmark high for 2018, growing 133 percent year-on-year, while Chinese Yuan futures witnessed a substantial increase of 721 percent year-on-year.

Gaurang Desai, CEO of the DGCX, said, "To begin the year with a such a strong month is extremely encouraging. The growth in volumes and open interest in many of our contracts attest to a growing marketplace and confidence in the Exchange. As we further consolidate our position as the largest and most diversified bourse in the Middle East, we remain committed to growing our product portfolio to provide our members and participants with a diverse range of hedging options on our platform."

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2018.