Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange 'on track' to break records in 2019

Exchange sees 94% surge in gold futures trading so far this year

The DGCX’s Sharia Compliant Spot Gold contract was unveiled in 2018. Ravindranath K / The National

Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) said its gold futures trading surged 94 per cent year-to-date while average daily volumes jumped five-fold year-on-year.

Overall contracts for commodities traded on the exchange stood at more than 21.85 million at the end of November, valued at about $400 billion (Dh1.47 trillion), DGCX said in a statement on Saturday, without providing comparative figures. In November, DGCX traded 1.54 million contracts.

"The DGCX remains on track to break the annual volumes record we set in 2018 of 22.3 million contracts traded, and close the year on a high note," Les Male, chief executive of DGCX, said.

Gold has had a volatile year, buffeted by uncertainty around the global economy as a result of the US-China trade war and geopolitical risks from Brexit to Iran. On Friday, gold rose as the dollar fell. Spot gold was up 0.5 per cent on Friday, trading at $1,463.90 an ounce in New York.

Global demand for gold this year is forecast to rise to the highest level in four years as higher consumption by jewellers offsets a fall in purchases by central banks.

The world will consume 4,370 tonnes of gold this year, the most since 2015 and up slightly from 4,364 tonnes in 2018, consultancy Metals Focus said in its Gold Focus 2019 report in April. It predicted gold prices would average $1,310 an ounce this year, up from $1,268 in 2018 and the highest since 2013.

Gold purchases by central banks dropped sharply in the third quarter of this year with only 14 regulators around the world adding 1 tonne or more to their reserves, according to a separate report by the World Gold Council.

Central banks added 156.2 tonnes to their reserves in three months to the end of September, a 38 per cent year-on-year decline, the trade body said in a report in November.

The overall demand for the precious metal was 1,107.9 tonnes in the third quarter of this year, a 3 per cent year-on-year rise, on the back of a surge in exchange-traded funds’ inflows that helped outweigh softer demand elsewhere in the market, the council said. Inflows into ETFs have been helped by the fact that prices have increased by 13.5 per cent since the start of the year.

Meanwhile, the Dubai exchange is bullish on growing its overall portfolio next year.

“As we turn our attention to 2020, we will continue to build on what we have achieved this year, further expanding our reach to different markets and increasing the breadth of our product portfolio to meet the hedging and investment needs of our participants across the globe,” Mr Male said.