KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 2): Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd, the investment banking arm of Affin Bank Bhd, launched the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) futures contracts, aiming to provide investors with broader investment opportunities.

The futures contracts will allow investors to engage in futures trading for various commodities, including but not limited to index futures such as Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500.

It will also include commodities including energy (oil and natural gas), agricultural products (wheat, corn and soybeans), metals (gold and copper), and other commodities. 

"This diversity allows investors to select commodities based on market trends and their own investment strategies, thereby achieving portfolio diversification,” Affin Hwang chief executive officer Nurjesmi Mohd Nashir said at the launch here on Monday.

On top of that, the futures contracts will enable investors to implement risk management strategies to protect their investments during increased market volatility.

CME offers a highly transparent market environment, allowing investors to better understand market conditions.

It also provide trading opportunities at different times of the day, allowing investors to trade according to their schedules.

“CME is one of the largest commodity exchanges globally, providing robust liquidity. This means that investors can find suitable buyers and sellers in the market, facilitating easier trading without liquidity issues,” he said.

Meanwhile, CME Group managing director and head of Asia-Pacific Russell Beattie said that Malaysia is among the Southeast Asian countries with the highest trading volumes of commodities.

“Malaysia is an important growth market for us (CME Group) in the [Southeast Asian] region. Over the past four years, trading volumes of our derivatives products from Malaysia have grown at a compound annual growth rate of close to 32%. 

“We have seen sustained demand from Malaysian market participants in terms of trading agriculture, energy, equity, and metal products on our derivatives marketplace,” said Beattie.

He said that the collaboration with Affin Hwang will give an exposure to futures brokers in Malaysia, as well as educate investors and traders on derivatives trading and hedging purposes.

“CME Group provides Malaysian market participants access to the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace. From October this year, CME Group's products will be made widely available to the trading and investment community in Malaysia through Affin Hwang’s futures contract’s trading platform,” he added.

At noon close on Monday, shares in Affin Bank were two sen or 0.94% lower at RM2.11, valuing the group at RM4.95 billion.