First-ever spot gold trading on the DGCX planned for later this year, why not make it ha

Our question, although perhaps impolite, is: "Who is the main banking syndicate behind the bourse...hmmm?"

Posted on 10 February 2013 

The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange will launch its first-ever spot gold contract later this year allowing UAE traders to buy and sell physical gold on a local exchange for the first time. Gold traders based in the City of Gold are ecstatic about this news reported in The National today.


It’s perhaps surprising that this has taken so long. Presently the DGCX only offers contracts based on the future price of gold, not the current or spot price.

Positive reaction

Traders are delighted by the news and they think it will do a lot to boost liquidity in the Dubai gold market by eliminating the need for offshore credit and collateral to trade in gold. The focus for Dubai is always on the physical trade in gold and the new spot gold contract hits that mark. Exchange traded gold products have not been as successful in Dubai as elsewhere in the world.

However, the DGCX still has a lot of work to do before the contract can be launched. Officials said the contract would need the support of local and international banks and the gold refiners.

‘We are still very much a cash settlement exchange, and in terms of the deliverability of the gold, we want to have the right infrastructure in place to enable us to do that,’ CEO Garry Anderson told The National.

Hot gold market

One can only speculate on how the gold market will look by the time the DGCX gets its spot trading up and running. A huge increase in demand for the yellow metal from China this year and continued global central bank money printing augurs well for gold prices.

It would be better if the DGCX could rap up its procedures in a few months in true Dubai style rather than drag this out for the rest of the year. Do such exchanges not work in real time?

If there is a demand in the marketplace for a spot gold trading contract then why not make it happen now and not wait while other exchanges abroad snap up this business?

ArabianMoney