April 2006 - Market activity report

First, DGCX completed trading of 100,000 gold futures contract in 104 trading days. Second, the value of gold futures traded on the exchange since its inception crossed the $2 billion mark during the month. Third, the total number of contracts traded in a day registered a new high of 4956 on April 20, 2006. Finally, a highest-ever weekly traded volume of 18420 contracts was recorded for the week ended April 28, 2006.

A total of 64,444 contracts of gold and silver futures were traded during April 2006 as against 43,945 contracts in March 2006, an increase of 47%. The traded volume in gold futures segment stood at 40429 during the month whereas Silver accounted for 24015 traded contracts.

Gold futures valued at $798.87 million were traded in April 2006 as compared to $733.05 million in March 2006. The total value of gold futures traded on DGCX since inception (November 22, 2005) now stands at $2.049 billion (110,900 kilograms of gold futures contracts).

Total open interest for gold futures - the number of contracts executed (bought or sold) but not closed out by the participants, as on April 30, 2006 stood at 523 contracts valued at $10.95 million. In respect of silver futures, the open interest at the month-end was 362 valued at $4.95 million..

Gold futures prices for June series recorded a new 25-year high on the last trading day of the month - closing at $654.30 troy oz. while silver futures also rose to a new 23-year high on brisk trading. The table given below shows the price movement of the near-term gold and silver futures during the month of April 2006.

A higher average intra day volatility of $12.76 was observed during the month in the gold prices in June expiry contract as compared to $7.10 during March 2006. The average daily volatility in respect of Silver July 2006 was over 64 cents.

Considering the steep rise in prices and the high degree of intra-day volatility in gold and silver, DGCX raised the initial margin levels for both the commodities contracts. The initial margin on Gold futures was raised from $480 to $650 per contract with effect from April 21, 2006. The initial margin on silver futures contract was raised in two stages - first, from $450 to $600 per contract effective April 12, 2006 followed by another hike to $750 per contract with effect from April 21, 2006.