The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) said it has set a new monthly volume record of over half a million contracts in August besides breaking volume records in four products.

DGCX said it has witnessed a significant rise in trading activity last month thus registering the highest ever monthly volume of 548,566 contracts worth $ 27.83 billion, a massive increase of 393 per cent from last year.

This surpassed the previous record of 310,990 contracts set in July 2011, said a statement from DGCX.

Speaking on the exceptional performance, Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of DGCX said: 'The records set by DGCX demonstrate the increased trading interest in DGCX products not only in the region but also globally.'

According to him, the DGCX registered an average daily volume record of 23,851 contracts worth $1.21 billion for August. The exchange also netted its highest ever daily volume of 35,796 contracts on August 4, he added.

'The fact that this significant growth has been achieved during Ramadan, which is generally considered a slow business phase in the region,  is testimony to the fact that DGCX offers some of the best tools for managing currency and commodity price risk in the region,' said Bin Sulayem.

DGCX currency products, he said, remained the mainstay of growth in August trading an all time monthly high of 511,279 contracts, a rise of 561 per cent from last year.

The currency segment also established a new monthly value record of $25.63 billion. Four currency futures recorded their highest ever monthly volume.

Meanwhile, the Indian Rupee futures recorded its highest ever monthly volume of 392,045 contracts valued at $17.26 billion, a significant increase of 800 per cent from last year.

Indian Rupee Futures also recorded its highest ever average daily volume and value of 17,045 contracts and $750 million respectively. The product also saw its highest daily volume of 27,406 contracts on August 19, 2011.

Euro futures reached its highest ever monthly volume of 96,202 contracts valued at $6.87 billion while Australian Dollar futures set monthly volume records of 5,737 contracts valued at $297.1 million and Swiss Franc futures recorded its highest ever monthly volume of 6,454 contracts valued at $420.4 million.

In addition the Euro, Australian Dollar and Swiss Franc futures recorded their highest ever daily volume of 12,377; 662 and 841 contracts on August 5, August 11 and August 4 respectively. The three currency futures together contributed a total of 14,093 contracts valued at $813.87 million this month.

Among other products, DGCX Gold futures increased 18 per cent year-on-year to reach 29,285 contracts while Silver futures rose 226 per cent year-on-year to end the month with 3,380 contracts. WTI futures fell 44 per cent to reach 4,622 contracts.-TradeArabia News Service