Singapore and India fight over SGX Nifty futures leading to Anxiety and Confusion in Investors
Investors are in dark and have been asking what they’ll do if Singapore abandons Indian futures, which currently have about $15 billion in open interest, according to Sean Cunningham, head of capital markets and fixed income for iShares in the Asia Pacific at BlackRock Inc.
What started as a business disagreement between two Asian exchanges has become a source of growing concern for international investors.
A fight between Singapore Exchange Ltd. and National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. over derivatives contracts is threatening to end a popular way of hedging Indian shares. The battle, which went to court in Mumbai this week, has left traders scrambling to find new ways to manage their exposure to the $2.3 trillion market, one of Asia’s biggest.
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The dispute broke into the open in February after NSE said it was axing licensing agreements with overseas bourses. India is trying to discourage offshore trading and promote a tax-free trading zone in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state, part of a broader effort by Asian nations to keep control of capital while further integrating into the global financial system. That’s not a combination that appeals to money managers.
“The moves do not help and it sends a wrong signal to the investing community,” said Salman Ahmed, London-based chief investment strategist at Lombard Odier Investment Managers. “You want to open your capital account incrementally, and for foreigners to invest in your very young population. This is a very bad signal to give.”
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NSE and SGX first clashed in January, when the Indian bourse asked its counterpart to delay plans to introduce single-stock futures that would track some of the subcontinent’s largest companies. SGX ignored the request, and a week later India’s three national exchanges said they’d cancel their offshore pacts, which meant that Singapore could no longer offer Nifty 50 Index futures.
“The battle is more about control and volumes,” said Vik Mehrota, the chief executive officer of Venus Capital Management Inc. in Boston, who has been investing in India since 1994. “This is a self-preservation move by NSE. This is an unnecessary fight.”Officials from NSE and SGX declined to comment.
The Court Battle
The next hearing in the case is due on Saturday; in the meantime, the Bombay High Court has issued an injunction against SGX to prevent it from launching the new products.
SGX’s shares fell 2.1% on Tuesday when the company revealed the lawsuit in Mumbai, its biggest drop since April 4. The stock is down 3.4% since Monday’s open, on course for its worst week since mid-February, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
If the NSE wins and assuming SGX abides by a ruling from India, investors will be left without an easy offshore way to hedge Indian stocks. Some global asset managers are saying they may pull out of the country, said Eugenie Shen, managing director and head of the asset management group at the Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association. Others may lower their exposure, she said.
“Many still prefer to access India through offshore products or offshore means because the general view is that it is difficult and costly for foreigners to invest onshore,” Shen said.
The question investors are asking is what they’ll do if Singapore abandons Indian futures, which currently have about $15 billion in open interest, according to Sean Cunningham, head of capital markets and fixed income for iShares in the Asia Pacific at BlackRock Inc.
“Investors are looking to alternatives to be able to get the exposure they are going to have to get,” Cunningham said. “There is still a lot of uncertainty out there what the end result will be.”
SGX’s lawyers in the Mumbai court signaled on Wednesday that they would be willing to enter arbitration to resolve the issue, though it’s unclear what the contract between the exchanges, first signed in 2000 and amended last year, sets out for any court-mandated dispute-resolution.
In the meantime, market participants should try to trade onshore or use synthetic products to keep their hedges, said Nikhil Bhatnagar, head of Asia sales at Auerbach Grayson & Co. in New York.
“Investors will suffer in this drama,” said Anil Ahuja, CEO at Singapore-based IPEplus Advisors. For more such news stay tuned with inventiva.co.in.
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