Nifty Single-Stock Futures Off To A Slow Start In Singapore
Only 11 out of Nifty 50 single-stock futures received trading interest on Day 1.
Indian stock futures were off to a slow start on the Singapore Exchange Ltd. today with only 11 out of 50 scrips witnessing any sort of trading interest.
Telecom tower infrastructure company Bharti Infratel Ltd. was the most traded by volume followed by India’s second-largest software service provider Infosys Ltd.
The low volume came amid a selloff in Asian shares, putting the MSCI Asia Pacific Index on course for its biggest drop in almost 14 months as investors weighed whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep to a gradual pace of monetary tightening.
NSE’s Concern
In May last year, market regulator SEBI took a decision to stamp out offshore notes backed by onshore derivatives. It has created a vacuum that a market like Singapore can easily fill by offering Indian stock futures to global investors.
The single-stock futures were launched despite India’s biggest bourse National Stock Exchange making request for a delay.
NSE had sought the delay to buy it time as it attempts to arrest the slide in stock-derivatives volumes. Futures on Nifty 50 Index are already very popular on the SGX. Open interest on the gauge is twice as high in Singapore compared with the home market.