Dubai Mercantile Oman Crude Has Record Volume in Oct.
(Bloomberg) -- The Dubai Mercantile Exchange, an oil futures market in the United Arab Emirates, reported record trading volume of its Oman Crude Oil Futures contract in October.
Average daily volume reached a high of 2,624 contracts last month, the exchange said in an e-mailed statement today. Average volume in 2009 has risen 58 percent from last year to 2,012 contracts a day, the DME said.
The DME’s only product is the Oman crude futures contract, which allows investors to trade at market prices and receive physical deliveries of the oil in Oman. The exchange, located in the Dubai International Financial Centre, is 25 percent-owned by government investment company Tatweer. CME Group Inc. and the Oman Investment Fund each own a quarter of the bourse.
October volume exceeded the previous record of 2,421 average daily contracts set in June after the exchange said Dubai would start pricing its crude oil based on the Oman futures contract. Trading reached a one-day record of 8,076 contracts on June 23, the DME said.
The start of trading of the Oman contracts on the CME’s electronic platform in February helped boost volumes by making them more accessible to investors worldwide, Chief Executive Officer Thomas Leaver said in an interview in June. Interest in the contract comes mainly from the U.S., Europe and Asia rather than the Middle East, he said at the time.
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