Trading Volume and Open Interest Reached New Highs in January
The Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited (DME) today announced a strong start to 2008 with the setting of a new monthly volume record and achieving the highest level of open interest in its benchmark Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract since the launch of the Exchange in June of last year.
The DME's Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract traded a record total of 42,903 contracts during January, surpassing the previous monthly volume high of 42,568 set during November's trading. To date, the Exchange's benchmark has traded a total of 245,185 contracts, equivalent to 245.185 million barrels of oil, and has been actively traded as far out as February 2010, providing further evidence of steady growth as the DME continues to develop its global customer base and attract new participants and members.
In another new record, open interest on the DME at the close of January trading stood at 13,773, surpassing by 2,713 contracts the previous monthly high of 11,060 recorded in November 2007. Open interest is the number of futures contracts entered into but not yet liquidated by an offsetting transaction or by delivery, and is regarded as a leading indicator of success by the industry.
Welcoming the announcement, Ahmad Sharaf, Chairman of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange, said: "This is an excellent start to 2008, and we look forward to the coming months when we intend to increase our product slate to include new futures contracts for our customers to trade. The steady growth in volume and record open interest clearly shows that our Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract has become the global benchmark for pricing the region's crude oil."
