The volume of crude oil futures traded on the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange more than doubled to 6.20 lakh barrels in October. The turnover also surged by 90 per cent to Rs 382 crore compared with September.

After focusing largely on agricultural commodities, the exchange is now offering a robust basket of non-agriculture commodities, as the trading volumes of its competitor Multi Commodity Exchange has been hit following the settlement crisis at its subsidiary National Spot Exchange Ltd.

“The rising participation in crude oil futures is an indication of the trust that the market participants repose in the exchange,” said a press release issued by the exchange. The increase in trading interest is despite the margin on NCDEX crude oil contracts being on the higher side as compared with prevailing contracts in the market, it said.

In September, NCDEX cut transaction charges for members who register an average daily turnover of Rs 200 crore. For members whose turnover is below Rs 200 crore, the transaction charge is Rs 2 for trade worth Rs 1 lakh. On the other hand, members who log an average daily turnover above Rs 200 crore, the charge will be Re 1, which translates to Rs 45,000 against Rs 62,500 paid earlier.

While the total turnover of commodity futures exchanges was down 60 per cent in the first fortnight of October to Rs 2.84-lakh crore compared with the year-ago period, that of NCDEX in the same period dipped by only 35 per cent to Rs 48,596 crore (Rs 75,336 crore), according to Forward Markets Commission data.

>suresh.iyengar@thehindu.co.in

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