Hong Kong stock exchange to launch renminbi currency options on March 20

[HONG KONG] The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) said on Thursday that it will launch its renminbi currency options on March 20.

The USD/CNH options will be the first currency options traded at the HKEX, it said in a statement on its website.

The eight contract months on the launch day will comprise April, May, June, July, September and December 2017, and March and June 2018.

The yuan, also known as the renminbi, fell 6.6 per cent against the US dollar last year, its worst annual drop since 1994, boosting interest in yuan derivative products to hedge currency risk.

The new product will complement the bourse's USD/CNH futures and other renminbi currency futures.

In 2016, the total trading volume of the HKEX's USD/CNH futures more than doubled from the previous year to an all-time high of 538,594 contracts, according to HKEX statistics. The 2016 notional amount totalled US$54 billion.

The HKEX accounts for about two-thirds of the open interest for all the world's exchange-traded USD/CNH futures.

REUTERS