The Bahrain Financial Exchange (BFX), the first multi-asset exchange in the Mena region, has achieved a major milestone with its total trading turnover surpassing the $250 million mark.

Announcing the completion of three months of successful trading, BFX said the total volumes at the exchange surged to 6,461 contracts.

As on February 24, 2012, the total single-side trading turnover on the BFX Futures was $250.70 million with a total volume of 6,461 contracts (single side) traded since the launch of the BFX Futures on November 23.

During this period, the largest traded BFX Futures contract in terms of volume was the BFX Euro USD Futures (3,026 contracts with a turnover of $99 million).

In terms of the trading turnover, the BFX Gold Futures was the highest (2,702 contracts with a turnover of $146.48 million).

The volume on the BFX Natural Gas Futures was 733 contracts with a trading turnover of $5.20 million. The highest daily trading turnover till date has been $8.12 million.

The highest daily volume of contracts was 196, both on February 22.

Commenting on the success, Arshad Khan, the managing director and CEO of the BFX and the BFX Clearing and Depository Corporation (BCDC), said: “We see the results as a confirmation to the exchange’s sound approach in attracting investors in the region to trade in our markets.'

'Our immediate plan is to broaden our trading portfolio by launching new products that include the BFX Dow Jones Safe India Index Futures. In Parallel, we are focusing on increasing the membership base of the Exchange which will further widen the investor base of our market,” he added.

The BFX launched its conventional segment with the commencement of Futures trading on Gold, Natural Gas and the Euro - US dollar currency pair last November.

Since the launch, the weekly trading turnover has increased to over $35.03 million (for the week ended on the  February 24, 2012) from $8.27 million (for the week ended on December 2), up 323.58 per cent.

The weekly trading volume also increased from 231 contracts to over 901 contracts during the same period posting an increase of over 290 per cent.

The BFX markets provide hedgers and cash market participants – including Jewellers, manufacturers, fabricators, service providers, traders, importers, exporters, etc. – an opportunity to mitigate risk against volatile asset prices, said Khan.

'The uncertainty in the Eurozone economies, expectations of higher demand for bullion as a hedge against inflation and the increasing global cash liquidity increased the asset price volatility,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service