The volumes traded in the Indian Rupee-Dollar futures contract listed on the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) hit a record high in March, said a clearing broker member at the exchange.

Trust Securities DMCC said the trading activity for the Rupee futures contract rose by 257 per cent over last March, with a total of 495,153 contracts traded.

This was the highest monthly volume since the contract began trading in 2007, said a statement from the clearing broker member.

DGCX is the only exchange trading the Rupee futures contract outside India. This makes it attractive to the Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) for use either as part of an investment strategy or for hedging currency exposure in business dealings, said a top official.

Bruce Powers, the head of research at Trust Securities DMCC, said, “We continue to see growing interest in trading the Rupee contract from our clients in the UAE as well as the wider region. As activity levels reach new record levels each month, it draws attention helping to continue to push liquidity even higher.”

Trading in the Rupee was a significant contributor to the overall volume increase at the Exchange for both March as well as the first quarter of 2012.

The total exchange volume was up 141 per cent from the previous year with 550,735 contracts traded, while first quarter volumes improved by 126 per cent to 1,545,899 contracts.

'Investors like to see healthy volume levels in any market. This helps give them confidence in managing their execution risk and the knowledge that there are enough market participants to help drive momentum.'

'We have developed a range of solutions which enable investors to take exposure to the Indian Rupee in a risk adjusted manner,” he added.

Trust Securities has been leader in the commodity market in the UAE for close to 10 years and has recently established two sub offices in India and Sri Lanka.-TradeArabia News Service