Flying start for Chinese futures

Chinese gold futures got off to a good start on their first day of trade, with prices for June delivery soaring by up to ten per cent today (January 9th).

Prices rose to 230.99 yuan per gram ($988 an ounce) after the opening of the Shanghai Futures Exchange before closing at 224.74 yuan a gram ($962 per ounce), helping spot gold elsewhere to break new records and approach the $900 an ounce mark.

Zhu Bin, head of research at Nanhua Futures, told Bloomberg that the opening of futures trading allowed "enthusiastic" Chinese investors to put their money in bullion at a relatively low cost.

"Given the wobbly equities market and gold's continuous climb in the past seven years, everyone seems to think that gold is a good investment," he added.

The Shanghai Futures Exchange currently has 219 members, with 183 being brokerage firms. Contract sizes are one kilogram per lot.