OREANDA-NEWS. October 06, 2015. In an unexpected move, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lowered its repo rate by 50 basis points to 6.75% from 7.25%. Analysts had been expecting a cut of 25 basis points.

The aggressive rate cut caught the market by surprise and resulted in a rally in Indian equities. Pressure had been mounting on the central bank to boost growth after inflation hit a record low of 3.6% in August due to falling commodity prices.

Volume for the SGX CNX Nifty Futures rose above 82,000 contracts, more than doubling from 36,000 contracts on 28th September, with futures prices surging immediately after the rate cut.

Source: Bloomberg as of 30 September 2015

Source: Singapore Exchange as of 30 September 2015

Over the year, investors’ total net delta in SGX CNX Nifty Index Futures has been steadily trending towards zero, indicating that investors are increasingly split on the future direction of the market.

The SGX INRUSD Currency Futures also saw robust trading interest with 23,731 contracts traded.The currency futures price appreciated to a high of 150.81 (low of 66.31 INR per USD) after the rate cut.

Source: Bloomberg as of 30 September 2015

The repo rate is the level at which the central bank lends to commercial banks.

“The weakening of global activity since our last review suggests that commodity prices will remain contained for a while,” Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan said in a statement in Mumbai on Tuesday.

“Still-low industrial capacity utilisation indicates more domestic demand is needed to substitute for weakening global demand,” he added. Hence, “monetary policy has to be accommodative to the extent possible” in current conditions.

The SGX CNX Nifty Index futures and SGX MSCI India Index futures contracts represent a quick and cost-effective way to access the Indian equity market without the need to register as a Foreign Portfolio Investor in India.

Capital efficiency can be achieved through the margin offsets available between SGX MSCI India and SGX CNX Nifty futures contracts. Please click here for the latest margin schedule.

Contract Specifications

  SGX MSCI India Futures SGX CNX Nifty Futures SGX INR/USD Futures

Underlying Index

Bloomberg ticker:

MSCI India Index

MXIN

CNX Nifty Index

NIFTY

XIDA

Denomination

US\\$
Trading Hours

Singapore Time

T session

T+1 session

 9.00 am – 6.15 pm
7.15 pm – 2.00 am		 9.00 am – 6.10 pm
7.15 pm – 2.00 am

7.40am – 7.30pm

8.15pm -2.00am

LTD: 7.40am – 2.35pm
Contract Size

US\\$50 x Futures Price

? US\\$54,800

 US\\$2 x Futures price ? US\\$17,500 INR 2,000,000
Minimum Price Fluctuation

0.2 index point (US\\$10)

? 1.87 basis points

0.5 index point (US\\$1)

? 0.58 basis points

0.010 US cents

(per 100 Rupees)
Contract Months

2 serial & 4 quarterly months

12 serial monthly
Last Trading Day Last Thursday of the expiring contract month. If this falls on an India holiday, the last trading day shall be the preceding business day. 2 business days prior to the last business day of the contract expiry month
Settlement

Cash settled (USD)
Final Settlement Price Official closing price of Index on the last trading day, rounded to 2 decimal places. Equal to the reciprocal of the RBI USD/INR Reference Rate published approximately at 2.45pm – 3.00pm (Singapore Time), multiplied by 10,000 to convert such spot exchange rate to United States Cents per 100 Indian Rupees, rounded to 2 decimal places.
Blocks/NLTs

Minimum 50 lots
Position Limits (net) 10,000 contracts 25,000 contracts 10,000 contracts

Bloomberg:

Reuters:

SSIA

SIIZ:

IHA

SIN:

XIDA

SIDU: