London 03/11/2015 - LME parent Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEx) will introduce London nickel, tin and lead yuan-denominated mini futures contracts on December 14, it said on Tuesday.
The new mini contracts will add to its suite of existing London aluminium, copper and zinc yuan-denominated mini futures contracts, which were launched in December last year.
The addition of these contracts will broaden its base of potential market participants and provide more arbitrage opportunities, it said.
Exchange fees for the new contracts will be waived from the rollout date until the end of the day trading session on June 30, 2016.
The three new cash-settled mini contracts will be traded on Hong Kong Futures Exchange (HKFE) and cleared through HKFE Clearing Corp. The contract size is at one tonne per contract for both nickel and tin and five tonnes per contract for lead.
The launch of the original three LME mini contracts marked the first futures products settled in the yuan and was a significant step for LME to extend into China, it said.
Still, take-up has been slow and the contracts have struggled to see much activity.
Still, HKEx CEO Charles Li has stated on several occasions that the launch is part of a long journey and that take-up would take time to develop.
(Editing by Mark Shaw)