NZX clocks up first dairy futures trade

Photo / Kenny Rodger

NZX, the stock exchange operator and regulator, saw the first active trading on its new dairy futures platform yesterday.

Nearing the end of the third day of trading, 10 tonnes of the earliest October 2010 contract traded at the platform's listing
price of US$3,525 a tonne.

The NZX launched its much-anticipated dairy futures trading platform last Friday, and though it had sellers lined up it didn't immediately secure any buyers.

"We're confident that demand for NZX Dairy Futures will continue to build, and we look forward to welcoming additional participants to the market in the near term," said NZX head of markets, Fiona Mackenzie.

During the first two days of operation there were up to 30 lots on offer in each of the front seven expiry months, which represented 210 lots total volume on offer with a US$792,000 notional value.

Shares in the stock exchange were unchanged at $1.54 in trading yesterday.

Fonterra Cooperative Group's online trading platform acts as the reference price for the stock exchange's contract, and fell 2.1 per cent to US$3,121 a tonne at its last event on October 5.

The stock exchange plans to introduce new futures and options products through the rest of this year and into next year.