OREANDA-NEWS. November 17, 2011. On November 17, 2011 OJSC RTS will start trading in a futures contract on a basket of six-year Russian Federation government bonds following the tendency to increasing duration of the public-sector debt. The underlying asset of the contract is Russian Federation government bonds with a period from the Contract’s settlement to the maturity date comprising of 5-7 years. The closest settlement date of the contract is March 5, 2012.

"The introduction of these contracts to trading means that the whole liquid part of the Russian Federation government bonds yield curve is engaged.  RTS offers derivatives on a whole range of the most demanded public debt instruments", says Evgeny Serdyukov, Derivatives Market Director of RTS Stock Exchange.

Currently, the Russian Federation government bonds with a 5-7-year term to maturity are among the most popular instruments on the spot market, and the futures on these securities will attract new trading participants to FORTS. 

FORTS, the derivatives market of RTS, is the leading trading venue for futures and options in Russia. Trading on FORTS started in September 2001. According to the Futures Industry Association the derivatives market of RTS is among the TOP-10 global derivatives exchanges based on the results of 2010. At present FORTS has the widest range of instruments in Russia. These are 56 contracts (41 futures and 15 options) on the RTS Index, MICEX Index, RTS Standard Index, Russian Volatility Index, shares of Russian companies, Russian Federation government bonds, short term interest rates, currency, oil, gasoil, power, gold, silver, and sugar.