The euro zone crisis made investors flee the stock market and take shelter in gold. Since the start of the year, gold prices have increased by 13% and investor interest in the metal has spiked.
Investors on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), where gold-backed derivatives are traded, have also caught the yellow metal fever. In Wednesday’s trading session, the bourse registered an all-time high in terms of the number of traded futures contracts: 7,899 contracts worth over 13 million lei, owing to transactions in gold futures contracts maturing in October and December 2011. Investors have traded more than RON52.2 million in gold contracts since their introduction in April.
All the futures contracts currently listed on Bucharest Exchange are cash settled, which means investors get cash for the contract on the due date. “The first physically settled gold-backed derivatives will be introduced soon, as well as the first derivative product with wheat as underlying asset. The first gold futures contract will be introduced in October,” said Valentin Ionescu, general manager of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)