SGX Nifty contracts to continue past August
18th June, 2018|Jack Ball
NSE filed an injunction in May against SGX's planned Indian derivatives suite, citing intellectual property and trademark concerns
The Singapore Exchange (SGX) will continue listing its Nifty contracts past August this year following a decision by a court-appointed arbitrator during a dispute resolution with the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE).
According to a statement on Saturday, SGX said it has been directed to “facilitate the continued listing of SGX Nifty products for at least two successive contract month maturations beyond the arbitration’s completion date”.
The same court document, dated Thursday last week, also instructed the exchange giant to refrain from offering new Indian equity derivatives products.
The planned suite was announced on April 11 following the surprise announcement in February by NSE, the Bombay Stock Exchange and the Metropolitan Stock Exchange, three of India’s largest exchanges, to end all licensing agreements with foreign counterparts.
“Arbitration proceedings are continuing and the hearings on evidence are expected to commence in early 2019,” SGX added in its statement last week.
The news comes less than a month after NSE’s subsidiary India Index Services and Products Limited (IISL) filed an injunction against SGX’s new Indian derivatives suite, citing intellectual property and trademark concerns.
In light of last month’s injunction SGX said at the time it would extend its existing Nifty suite until August, although Thursday’s ruling has now extended this date.
Speaking on NSE's concerns last month, SGX chief Loh Boon Chye stressed the new Indian products would be based on the reference value methodology on publicly available prices of futures contracts.
“It is based on publicly available prices. It does not reference any particular trademark or methodology,” he added.
SGX has become very popular with international investors looking to bet on India's equity markets, with its existing suite made up of Nifty 50 futures and options, as well as Nifty Bank Index futures.
A well diversified 50 stock index accounting for 13 sectors of the Indian economy, the Nifty 50 is owned and operated by IISL, while the Nifty Bank index has 12 stocks from the banking sector that trade on the NSE.
