Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited [HKEX] announced Friday its plan to launch physically-settled offshore Chinese yuan and US dollar gold futures contracts in the third quarter of 2017.
The underlying asset is to be a 1 KG gold bar of at least 0.9999 fineness and trading is to be during Hong Kong trading hours, as well as after hours, up to 16 hours a day.
"Our Offshore Renminbi and US dollar Gold Futures contracts will be the first such pairing on the same exchange platform anywhere in the world," said Li Gang, HKEX's Co-head of Market Development.
"Our new Gold Futures will be helpful to gold users, from refiners and fabricators to jewellers, who need to hedge gold price risk. We also think they will be attractive to banks, fund managers and traders in the precious metals market," he added.
HKEX expects to invite applications from companies interested in serving as liquidity providers in "due course."
The London Metal Exchange, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HKEX, said recently its plan to introduce gold futures in London as part of its LMEprecious initiative had been moved back to July 2017 from June.
