Japan Exchange Group Inc. on Monday began futures trading in commodities including gold at its Osaka Exchange unit, offering the first one-stop trading platform in Japan for financial and commodities futures.
Amid sluggish commodity futures trading in Japan, the Osaka Exchange enables combined trading using a single account to provide a more user-friendly service.
Akira Kiyota, Japan Exchange Group’s chief executive officer, has said the integrated service provides “an opportunity to expand the market through the combined efforts of the industry.”
On the first day of trading, gold futures briefly hit an all-time high of ¥6,594 ($62) per gram on an intraday basis, reflecting some investors’ appetite for a safe-haven asset amid the coronavirus pandemic and growing U.S.-China tensions.
The Osaka Exchange had handled financial derivatives such as stock and government bond futures. It took over futures trading operations for precious metals, rubber and farm goods from the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, known as Tocom, after Japan Exchange Group, which also runs the Tokyo bourse, merged the commodity exchange last year.
Trading of energy futures contracts such as for crude oil and electricity remain at Tocom.
Japan is lagging behind the global trend for integrated bourses, with regulations having prevented such moves. In many overseas markets, both financial and commodity futures trading is offered by a single bourse.
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