Dow, S&P 500 futures to be traded on NSE

Mumbai: The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) and CME Group, the world's most diverse derivatives marketplace has announced cross-listing arrangements, including license agreements covering benchmark indices for U.S. and Indian equities.

Under the cross-listing arrangements, the rights to the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average will be made available to NSE for the creation and listing of Rupee-denominated futures contracts for trading on NSE and the S&P CNX Nifty Index will be made available to Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), for the creation and listing of U.S. dollar denominated futures contracts for trading on CME.

At present, Indian investors who trade in Dow remit foreign exchange to overseas brokerages for taking a position on exchanges abroad. Very soon, these investors can bet on the direction of these global indices in rupees, as easily as they trade on the Nifty. This is the first time that the S&P 500 futures will be traded outside the United States. Trading is likely to occur during usual the Indian market hours. "Indian financial markets have gone through a phase of rapid growth in the past few years. Our products are traded by institutional investors worldwide, making the Nifty 50 one of the more widely traded global products," said Ravi Narain, MD and CEO, NSE.