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ICE will start gold futures for clearing London’s daily auction

Bloomberg Published on Mon, Oct 17, 2016 / 8:53 AM GMT+8

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(Oct 17): Intercontinental Exchange Inc., which runs the daily London gold auction, will start a futures contract for the metal in the US in February, jumping the gun on the London Metal Exchange which is also working on a London-focused product.

The contract, subject to regulatory approval, will be for bullion held in London and traded on ICE Futures US in New York. Each contract will be for 100 troy ounces of metal and will be used to clear the London gold auction, starting in March. The London Metal Exchange is scheduled to begin its own futures contracts in the first half of next year.

The move was announced as the London Bullion Market Association, which represents the city’s gold traders, meets in Singapore to discuss ways to modernise a market that clears more than US$5 trillion ($7 trillion) of the precious metal a year. Gold futures also change hands in New York on the CME Group Inc.’s Comex exchange. The London gold auction is held twice a day and has 13 authorised participants, up from four last year.