OREANDA-NEWS. April 26, 2010. On April 23, 2009 trading started on RTS Standard, the cash equities market where local and international investors can execute trades in liquid stocks of Russian issuers using the cutting-edge exchange technologies and pursue new investment strategies involving Russian assets.

The principles underlying trading on RTS Standard became a revolutionary innovation for the Russian securities market including: the absence of the full advance depositing requirements; a Central Counterparty; settlement on Т+4; evening trading sessions; consolidated cash positions with FORTS, the derivatives section of RTS and RTS Standard; and a unique risk management system.

For the last year RTS Standard has gained considerable market share of the Russian securities market thus demonstrating the acute need for and shared interest from all market players towards upgrading the exchange trading mechanisms employed on the securities market. During its first year RTS Standard average daily trading volume more than tripled to hover at RUB11.5 billion from the beginning of 2010. Market participants include over 100 Russian and foreign players – banks, clearing members, investment companies and their clients.

Growing investor interest in RTS Standard encouraged the expansion of the market’s original instruments list from 20 to 22 names in August 2009. In addition, starting from November 2009, prices for 17 stocks from the RTS Index base are sourced from RTS Standard. This allowed RTS to extend its benchmark calculation to the evening trading session that runs from 7.00 pm to 11.50 pm MSK, and to reflect the reaction of local investors to the changing global financial markets.

Another natural development of the market was the launch of the ruble-denominated RTS Standard Index in January 2010, representing the trades prices and quotes for the top 15 liquid stocks. The RTS Standard Index is the first one in the RTS Indices series to be updated each second, which allows it to track blue chips’ performance precisely and promptly. In February 2010 a futures contract on the RTS Standard Index significantly broadened the existing arsenal of arbitrage and hedging strategies for the derivatives and cash equities markets.

In April 2010 repo trades with the Central Counterparty were introduced on RTS Standard eliminating the risk associated with bilateral lending and borrowing cash and securities on the equities market, and allowing the market participants to extend their range of counterparties on the repo market.

After a year in operation RTS Standard has restored the credibility of investments in the Russian securities market across all investor categories - undermined during the end-2008/early 2009 crisis - and has significantly boosted liquidity of this market segment.