Singapore Exchange Ltd. is aiming to make it easier for European investors to trade Asian bonds during their own working day. For money managers in Europe, getting the best prices usually means trading in the early hours of the morning or having staff on the ground in Asia.
Starting Tuesday, they will be able to use the Singapore Exchange’s new one-hour “liquidity window” that aims to boost activity from market makers and asset managers later in the Asian trading day. The window will open at 10 a.m. London time — 5 p.m. in Singapore — as part of SGX’s push to build volumes in its bond futures.
Trading volumes across all of its new Asia-Pacific contracts, bar India, were at zero through August, underscoring the challenge of building offshore liquidity in Asian bonds. SGX launched government bond futures for India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines earlier this year, alongside 20-year Japanese futures.
In addition to the European initiative, the exchange will also open a liquidity window for Indian investors from Tuesday, running between 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Singapore time. The initiatives aim to tackle a long-standing problem where asset managers don’t trade without visible pricing, while market makers hesitate to commit capital without enough demand.
Source: Bloomberg Markets · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing