On Wednesday, Gui Minjie, the chairman of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, said the bourse plans to introduce options on individual stocks in 2013, reported?Dow Jones.
At a press conference, Mr. Gui said the exchange will launch the options to institutional investors on its trading platform first but additional details weren’t provided.?
This doesn’t come as too much of a surprise as sources told Dow Jones back in June the exchange had been on target to launch equity options as China’s looks to expand its highly regulated capital markets through additional financial products.?
The Shanghai Exchange is the larger of China’s two stock exchanges and sits as the No. 6 biggest exchange as defined by market capitalization.
The exchange is also rumored to readying for an initial public offering and a listing on the ?domestic market, similar to the Hong Kong and Singapore exchanges.
News of the options launch follows the announcement earlier this week that in May, the New Zealand stock exchange (NZX) will launch its own equity derivatives marketplace.?
It initially had a March 1, 2013 launch but had been pushed back to assure market readiness in connectivity and clearing to maximize participation in the products on the day they’re launched, said the exchange in a statement.?
Equity options are scheduled to launch on June 3. Back in 2010, NZX launched a derivatives market that included products that referenced dairy futures and options.
Sam Stanley, NZX head of business strategy and sales recently said, “The launch of an equity derivatives market is in response to customer demand to have listed equity derivatives instruments that are easily tradable and provide the ability to manage risk and offer greater product diversity to customers.”