The country’s leading bourse National Stock Exchange will launch yen-denominated Nifty futures on the Osaka Securities Exchange by March next year, a move that will provide Japanese investors exposure to Indian equities.
Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE) is part of Japan Exchange Group (JPX).
The National Stock Exchange and JPX have entered into an agreement for launching S&P CNX Nifty Futures on OSE.
“This is the first time that retail and institutional investors in Japan will be able to take a view on the Indian markets, in addition to current ETFs, in their own currency and in their own time zone,” NSE said in a joint statement today.
Investors would therefore not face any currency risk, because they would not have to invest in dollar denominated or rupee denominated contracts, it said.
NSE’s Managing Director & CEO Ravi Narain and JPX Group CEO Atsushi Saito signed a “letter of intent” for the proposed launch.
The yen-denominated S&P CNX Nifty futures would be listed on the OSE by March 2014.
“Yen-denominated S&P CNX Nifty futures contracts will help investors in Japan to effectively diversify their portfolios in their own currency,” Narain said.
He said the new contract would help small investors as well as large asset management companies to take a view on a high growth market like India and reap the benefits of a globally diversified portfolio.
According to Saito, Japanese investors have been showing increasing interest in India.
“ ... JPX and NSE have built a close co-operative relationship, which has already borne the fruit of two ETFs that track the S&P CNX Nifty Index listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange,” Saito added.
Japan Exchange Group, Inc is a holding company established on January 1, 2013, as a result of the business combination between Tokyo Stock Exchange and Osaka Securities Exchange, a prominent derivatives exchange of Japan.