UPDATE 1-Global daily FX volumes drop in Oct, Tokyo turnover up-survey

Wed, 29 Jan - 3:15am

(Updates with North America, Tokyo, Canada, Singapore, Australia, FX volume)

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Anirban Nag

LONDON/NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Average daily turnover in the foreign exchange market in almost all financial centers, except Tokyo, fell in October last year from April, led by declines in spot and options transactions, central bank surveys showed on Tuesday.

Daily volume of spot, outright forwards, non-deliverable forwards, swaps, FX options and currency swaps totalled $2.23 trillion in October in the UK, down 12 percent from April 2013, according to the Bank of England, which released the data as part of a global semi-annual survey of FX turnover.

In the United States, the average daily volume dropped 19 percent from turnover during the April 2013 survey, but was 3 percent higher than a year earlier, said the Foreign Exchange Committee, which includes representatives of major financial institutions engaged in FX trading in the United States and is sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The UK volume in October, meanwhile, was also 11 percent higher from a year ago. London and New York are the world's biggest currency trading centres.

In Tokyo, however, forex volume edged higher to $372.7 billion per day, up 7 percent from the April 2013 survey, according to a Bank of Japan report. The increase was led by a 33 percent rise in FX swaps volume of $212 billion. All the other FX products' volume declined in October, with FX spot volume sliding 16.4 percent to $125.1 billion.

The BOE survey said dollar/yen activity fell 36 percent in October 2013, to $320 billion a day. Interest in the dollar/yen pair had risen in the first half of last year after the Bank of Japan unleashed a massive stimulus programme in April.

That move came after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to power in late 2012 and pledged to get the economy out of years of deflation.

Data from CLS Bank, also released on Tuesday, mirrored the data released by the BoE. It showed global average traded volumes fell nearly 18 percent in the third quarter of last year.

In North America, the most significant declines in currency turnover in percentage terms were in over-the-counter options and spot, which fell 40 percent and 28 percent since the last April survey.

In terms of market participants, the U.S. forex market saw a decline in activity, but was particularly pronounced for so-called "other financial customers", which include asset managers, hedge funds, and broker/dealers.

In Canada, the average daily turnover declined 14.8 percent to $52.3 billion in October, from $61.4 billion in April. Spot trades fell 7 percent $14.6 billion.

In Australia, the average daily turnover in all OTC forex instruments fell 7 percent in October to $168.6 billion. Daily volume on OTC FX options and cross-currency interest rate swaps $4.2 billion in October 2013, down 41 per cent from April, and a decline of 34 percent a year earlier.

In Singapore, the average daily turnover dropped 14.73 percent to $282 billion from April last year. Spot transactions, fell to $88.2 billion, down 12.2 percent.

One notable increase in Singapore, however, was turnover in over-the-counter forex derivatives, which grew 0.7 percent in October to $61 billion.

(Editing by David Gregorio)

((gertrude.chavez@thomsonreuters.com)(646-223-6322)(Reuters Messaging: rm://gertrude.chavez.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: MARKETS FOREX/VOLUME

URN: 
urn:newsml:reuters.com:20140128:nL5N0L23F5:3
Topics: 
JP US SG AU GB EUROP CA FRX EZ ASIA EMRG REP EUR LEN BOE RTRS CEN PLCY MCE WEU ASEAN EUROPE AMERS

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