The NSE has emerged as the largest bourse globally in the number of currency derivative contracts traded on its platform in first half of 2013 — leading the second-ranked Moscow Exchange by over 125 per cent.
As per the latest data complied by the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), 59.71 crore currency derivative contracts were traded on NSE between January and June, a rise of 52 per cent from the year-ago period.
The National Stock Exchange was followed by Moscow Exchange with 25.77 crore currency derivative contracts, the WFE data shows.
Currency derivative contracts allow investors to take position on change in the foreign exchange rates between pairs of two currencies, such as rupee and dollar.
Other global bourses in the top five in terms of number of forex derivative contracts included Chicago’s CME Group (3rd place with 12.73 crore contracts), Latin America’s BM&FBOVESPA (4th, with 3.85 crore contracts) and Korea Exchange (5th, with 2.88 crore contracts).
However, the currency derivative volumes have been declining on the NSE and other Indian bourses in the recent weeks after market regulator SEBI tightened the exposure norms for brokers and trades to these contracts to check large scale speculations in the market and help curb the falling rupee.
It was being felt that large-scale speculations on their future movements might be adding to the downward pressure on the Indian currency.
According to WFE data, NSE also figures among the top 10 exchanges in world for contracts in stock index futures, stock index options, single stock futures and single stock options.
Index and stock futures are generally contracts based on a particular stock or index.
Options is a derivative contract where the holder has the right but not the obligation to buy or sell shares, while futures obligate a holder to purchase or sell an asset at a predetermined date and price.
As per the data, NSE stood at the first place in terms of number of stock index options contracts (45.5 crore) traded on its platform, for the first six months of 2013.
According to WFE, the number of overall derivative contracts have increased by 14 per cent in first half of 2013, after a fall of 15 per cent in 2012.
Further underlying assets such as equity derivatives grew by 13 per cent while currency derivatives rose by 19 per cent in first half of this year.