MUMBAI: The SGX Nifty began trading as GIFT Nifty on Monday marking a significant shift for investors and traders looking for cues for the opening of Indian equities. The transformation of SGX Nifty into GIFT Nifty means that now the latter will serve as an early indicator of how Nifty is likely to open on any trading day. SGX Nifty were the Nifty derivatives contracts traded on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). From today, trading in these contracts has now started to take place on Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) under a special arrangement between SGX and the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
Trading of the USD-denominated GIFT Nifty started on Monday morning with an open interest of $8.05 billion in Nifty futures and over $1.05 billion open interest in Nifty Options from SGX’s international client network. The first session recorded a turnover of $1.13 billion at 3:40 pm, demonstrating high confidence from global institutional investors.
“The complete migration of the re-branded GIFT-NIFTY to GIFT IFSC will consolidate the international liquidity pool for Nifty products in the NSE IX exchange and will give a boost to GIFT-IFSC as a global hub for international financial products and services,” said Injeti Srinivas, Chairman said International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).
With start of trading in GIFT Nifty, the turnover generated in the offshore market earlier will now be generated onshore in Gujarat’s Gift City. Industry experts expect GIFT Nifty to have daily volumes of $1.5 billion to $2 billion.