Khyati Dharamsi

Mumbai The BSE Sensex Futures will start trading on the US Futures Exchange (USFE) from April 4. It will be the first Asian index futures to go live on the US exchange.

The -dollar denominated futures contracts will trade 23 hours a day on the USFE, and will have a notional value of 40,000 index units and the minimum price change would be $5. For those wishing to invest in Indian equity, the BSE Sensex Futures will be a second option — the other being the American Depository Receipts (ADRs).

While the BSE Sensex comprises top-30 shares on market capitalisation, the ADRs are spread across market capitalisations.

The demand for the Indian equities has been tremendous, going by what John Spiegel, the deputy chief executive of USFE, has to say. FinanceAsia. com on Thursday quoted Spiegel as saying, “We’ve undertaken a massive sales campaign to end-users. In some ways, it’s been easier to sell than we’d expected because of the strength of the Indian economy, and Asia in general.”

BSE chairman was unavailable for comment.

The Sensex futures have had a unpleasant history in India, though. The futures never saw any volumes between January 2005 and August 2006.

They started picking up in September 2006 and have now touched a daily average of Rs 1,000 crore.

Also, the NSE Nifty index futures, listed on the Singapore Exchange, witnessed an average volume of 35,269 contracts during the past one month, while the same Nifty Index Futures in India had an average volume of 6,73,095 contracts.

Incidentally, the first Indian ETF in Asia, to be launched by Lyxor International Asset Management, to be based on the Nifty index, would be listed on the Singapore Exchange on March 28, 2008.

The BSE Sensex Futures was scheduled to have listed on the USFE a month earlier.

Source : DNA