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INTRODUCTION
Agriculture
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Barley, Cashew, Castor seed, Chana, Chilli, Coffee Arabica, Coffee Robusta, Crude Palm Oil,
Cotton Seed Oilcake, Expeller Mustard Oil, Groundnut (in shell), Groundnut Expeller Oil, Guar
gum, Guar Seeds, Gur, Jeera, Jute sacking bags, Indian Parboiled Rice, Indian Pusa Basmati
Rice, Indian Traditional Basmati Rice, Indian Raw Rice, Indian 28.5 mm Cotton, Indian 31 mm
Cotton, Masoor Grain Bold, Medium Staple Cotton, Mentha Oil, Mulberry Green Cocoons,
Mulberry Raw Silk, Mustard Seed, Pepper, Potato, Raw Jute, Rapeseed-Mustard Seed Oilcake,
RBD Palmolein, Refined Soy Oil, Rubber, Sesame Seeds, Soya bean, Sugar, Yellow Soybean
Meal, Tur, Tumeric, Urad, V 797 Kapas, Wheat, Yellow Peas, Yellow Red Maize.
Metals
Aluminium Ingot, Electrolytic Copper Cathode, Gold, Mild Steel Ingots, Nickel Cathode, Silver,
Sponge Iron, Zinc Ingot Energy Brent Crude Oil, Furnace Oil. At subsequent phases trading in
more commodities would be facilitated Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) is an independent
commodity exchange based in
India. It was established in 2003 and is based in Mumbai. It has an average daily
turnover of around US$1.55 billion. MCX offers futures trading in Agricultural
Commodities, Bullion,Ferrous & Non-ferrous metals, Pulses, Oils & Oilseeds, Energy, .
Secured Mutual Funds Services pvt ltd, celebrating over 10 years of customized and innovative
service to the mutual fund industry. Indeed, with the financial institutions deregulation act, a
wide range of securities, insurance and other financial products suddenly became availiable to
banks and thrift institutions, and banks across the country were getting into the mutual fund
business.
It was inside that emerging market that company founders Chander Prakash Shakya and D S
Chauhan, both, saw opportunity in this emerging market. Specifically, they saw a chance to
create a company that provided certain specialized services that banks could not themselves
offer. And so it was that in June of 2004, SMFS came to be.
SMFS has evolved from its modest beginnings of servicing a single bank mutual fund client into
a full-service provider to the investment management industry. Now with more than 200
employees, over 100 clients, and an executive team that's been in place for over 10 years, SMFS
continues to actively promote all of its various business segments, from asset servicing through
SM Fund Services, Inc. to asset gathering through SMFS Distributors, Inc. and SMFS Advisors,
Inc.
With a combination of expertise in a broad range of products and a culture built around the
founders' encouragement to "Do Things Right," SMFS is uniquely positioned in the industry to
help its clients' structure, service and distribution of all product types. With sustainable
competitive advantage arising from our strong brand, unmatched credibility, market leadership
across businesses, and large customer base, we deliver analysis, opinions, and solutions that
make markets function better.
Our defining trait is our ability to convert data and information into expert judgements and
forecasts across a wide range of domains, with deep expertise and complete objectivity.
At the core of our credibility, built up assiduously over the years, are our values: Integrity,
Independence, Analytical Rigour, Commitment and Innovation.
There are wide variety of Mutual Fund schemes that cater to investor needs, whatever the age,
financial position, risk tolerance and return expectations. The mutual fund schemes can be
classified according to both their investment objective (like income, growth, tax saving) as well
as the number of units (if these are unlimited then the fund is an open-ended one while if there
are limited units then the fund is close-ended).
Open-ended schemes
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These funds are sold at the NAV based prices, generally calculated on every business day. These
schemes have unlimited capitalization, open-ended schemes do not have a fixed maturity - i.e.
there is no cap on the amount you can buy from the fund and the unit capital can keep growing.
These funds are not generally listed on any exchange.
Open-ended funds are bringing in a revival of the mutual fund industry owing to increased
liquidity, transparency and performance in the new open-ended funds promoted by the private
sector and foreign players. Open-ended funds score over close-ended ones on several counts.
Some of these are listed below:
Any time exit option : The issuing company directly takes the responsibility of providing an
entry and an exit. This provides ready liquidity to the investors and avoids reliance on transfer
deeds, signature verifications and bad deliveries.
Tax advantage: Though Budget 2004 proposals envisage a tax rate of 20.91%(Corporate
investors) and 13.06875%(Non-Corporate investors) on dividend distribution made by the Debt
funds, the funds continue to remain attractive investment vehicles. In equity plans there is no
distribution tax.
Any time entry option : An open-ended fund allows one to enter the fund at any time and even to
invest at regular intervals (a systematic investment plan).
The open ended funds offered by ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund are Liquid Plan, Income Plan,
Gilt-Treasury, Gilt-Investment, Balanced Fund, Growth Fund, Tax Plan, FMCG Fund,
Technology Fund, Monthly Income Plan, Child Care Plan, Power and Short Term Plan
Fixed-Income funds invest in government or corporate securities that offer fixed rates of
return.
Growth Funds
These funds seek to provide growth of capital with secondary emphasis on dividend. They invest
in shares with a potential for growth and capital appreciation. Because they invest in wellestablished companies where the company itself and the industry in which it operates are thought
to have good long-term growth potential, growth funds provide low current income. Growth
funds generally incur higher risks than income funds in an effort to secure more pronounced
growth.
These funds may invest in a broad range of industries or concentrate on one or more industry
sectors. Growth funds are suitable for investors who can afford to assume the risk of potential
loss in value of their investment in the hope of achieving substantial and rapid gains.
They are not suitable for investors who must conserve their principal or who must maximize
current income.
Growth and income funds seek long-term growth of capital as well as current income. The
investment strategies used to reach these goals vary among funds. Some invest in a dual portfolio
consisting of growth stocks and income stocks, or a combination of growth stocks, stocks paying
high dividends, preferred stocks, convertible securities or fixed-income securities such as
corporate bonds and money market instruments. Others may invest in growth stocks and earn
current income by selling covered call options on their portfolio stocks.
Growth and income funds have low to moderate stability of principal and moderate potential for
current income and growth. They are suitable for investors who can assume some risk to achieve
growth of capital but who also want to maintain a moderate level of current income.
Fixed-Income Funds
The goal of fixed income funds is to provide current income consistent with the preservation of
capital. These funds invest in corporate bonds or government-backed mortgage securities that
have a fixed rate of return. Within the fixed-income category, funds vary greatly in their stability
of principal and in their dividend yields. High-yield funds, which seek to maximize yield by
investing in lower-rated bonds of longer maturities, entail less stability of principal than fixedincome funds that invest in higher-rated but lower-yielding securities.
Some fixed-income funds seek to minimize risk by investing exclusively in securities whose
timely payment of interest and principal is backed by the full faith and credit of the Indian
Government. Fixed-income funds are suitable for investors who want to maximize current
income and who can assume a degree of capital risk in order to do so.
Balanced
The Balanced fund aims to provide both growth and income. These funds invest in both shares
and fixed income securities in the proportion indicated in their offer documents. Ideal for
investors who are looking for a combination of income and moderate growth.
For the cautious investor, these funds provide a very high stability of principal while seeking a
moderate to high current income. They invest in highly liquid, virtually risk-free, short-term debt
securities of agencies of the Indian Government, banks and corporations and Treasury Bills.
Because of their short-term investments, money market mutual funds are able to keep a virtually
constant unit price; only the yield fluctuates. Therefore, they are an attractive alternative to bank
accounts. With yields that are generally competitive with - and usually higher than -- yields on
bank savings account, they offer several advantages. Money can be withdrawn any time without
penalty. Although not insured, money market funds invest only in highly liquid, short-term, toprated money market instruments. Money market funds are suitable for investors who want high
stability of principal and current income with immediate liquidity.
Specialty/Sector Funds
These funds invest in securities of a specific industry or sector of the economy such as health
care, technology, leisure, utilities or precious metals. The funds enable investors to diversify
holdings among many companies within an industry, a more conservative approach than
investing directly in one particular company.
These funds invest in securities of a specific industry or sector of the economy such as health
care, technology, leisure, utilities or precious metals. The funds enable investors to diversify
holdings among many companies within an industry, a more conservative approach than
investing directly in one particular company.
Index funds generally buy shares in all the companies composing the BSE Sensex or NSE Nifty
or other broad stock market indices. They are not suitable for investors who must conserve their
principal or maximize current income.
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CHAPTER 2
Literature Review
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Retail should
understand the risk advantages of trading in commodities futures before taking a leap.
Historically, pricing in commodities futures has been less volatile compared with equity and
bonds, thus providing an efficient portfolio diversification option.
In fact, the size of the commodities markets in India is also quite significant. Of the countrys
GDP of Rs.13,20,730 crore( Rs.13,207.3 billion), commodities related
( and dependent) industries constitute about 58 per cent.
Currently, the various commodities across the country clock an annual turnover of Rs.1,40,000
crore ( Rs.1,400 billion). With the introduction of futures trading, the sizes of the commodities
market grow many folds here on.
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and futures markets move in close unison not only in the same direction, but also by almost the
same magnitude, so that losses in one market are offset by gains in the other.
Of course, such a price relationship between the spot and futures markets is subject to the
amount of carrying or storage costs till the maturity month of the futures contract. Theoretically
( and ideally), in a perfectly competitive market with surplus supplies and abundant stocks round
the year, the futures price will exceed the spot price by the cost of storage till the maturity of the
futures contract. But such storage cost declines as the contract approaches maturity, thereby
reducing the premium or contango commanded by the futures contract over the spot delivery
over its life and eventually becomes zero during the delivery month when the spot and futures
prices virtually converge. The efficiency of a futures contract for hedging depends on the
prevalence of such an ideal price relationship between the spot and futures markets.
century in the United States, businessmen began organizing market forums to make the buying
and selling of commodities easier. These central market places provided a place for buyers and
sellers to meet, set quality and quantity standards, and establish rules of business. Agricultural
commodities were mostly traded but as long as there are buyers and sellers, any commodity can
be traded.
The major commodity markets are in the United Kingdom and in the USA. In India there are 25
recognized future exchanges, of which there are three national level multi-commodity
exchanges. After a gap of almost three decades, Government of India has allowed forward
transactions in commodities through Online Commodity Exchanges, a modification of traditional
business known as Adhat and Vayda Vyapar to facilitate better risk coverage and delivery of
commodities.
THE THREE EXCHANGES ARE
National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited ( NCDEX)
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15
A big difference between a typical auction, where a single auctioneer announces the bids, and the
Exchange is that people are not only competing to buy but also to sell. By Exchange rules and
by law, no one can bid under a higher bid, and no one can offer to sell higher than some one
elses lower offer. That keeps the market as efficient as possible, and keeps the traders on their
toes to make sure no one gets the purchase or sale before they do.
National Board of Trade
Multi Commodity Exchange of India
Products
Soya, mustard
Multiple
Castor, cotton
Mustard
Gur
Castor, groundnut
Pepper
Gur, mustard
Gur
Products Traded
Gur
Sunflower Oil
Cotton ( Seed and Oil)
Safflower ( Seed , Oil and Oil Cake)
Agro
commodities Gur
Beopar
Muzaffarnagr
India Pepper
Chamber
&
Spice
Association, Kochi
Rajadhani Oils and
Oil
Ltd., Gur
Trade Pepper
seeds Gur, Rapeseed / Mustard Seed Sugar Grade M
Exchange Ltd.,Delhi
Rapeseed / Mustard Seed / Oil / Cake
Soya bean / Meal / Oil / Crude Palm Oil
National Board of Trade, Indore
The Chamber of Commerce, Hapur
Gur, Rapeseed / Mustard seed
The East India Cotton Association, Cotton
Mumbai
The central
India
Commercial Gur
amount of flour and the cost of converting wheat to flour is fairly fixed hence predictable.
Perishable commodities must have an adequate shelf life, because delivery on a futures
contract is deferred.
The cash commoditys price must fluctuate enough to create uncertainty, which means
both rise and potential profit.
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Unlike a stock, which represents equity in a company and can be held for along time, if not
indefinitely, futures contracts have finite lives. They are primarily used for hedging commodity
price-fluctuation risks or for taking advantage of price movements, rather than for the buying or
selling of the actual cash commodity. The word contract is used because a futures contract
requires delivery of the commodity in a stated month in the future unless the contract is
liquidated before it expires.
The buyer of the futures contract (the party with a long position) agrees on a fixed purchase price
to buy the underlying commodity ( wheat, gold or T-bills, for example) form the seller at the
expiration of the contract. The seller of the futures contract (the party with a short position)
agrees to sell the underlying commodity to the buyer at expiration at the fixed sales price. As
time passes, the contracts price changes relative to the fixed price at which the trade was
initiated. This creates profits or losses for the trader.
In most cases, delivery never takes place.
independently of each other, usually liquidate their long and short positions before the contract
expire: the buyer sell futures and the seller buys futures.
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2.5 a TRADING
The trading system on the Commodities exchange provides a fully automated screen-based
trading for futures on commodities on a nationwide basis as well as an online monitoring and
surveillance mechanism. It supports an order driven market and provides complete transparency
of trading operations. After hours trading has also been proposed for implementation at a later
stage.
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The NCDEX system supports an order driven market, where orders match automatically. Order
matching is essentially on the basis of commodity, its price, time and quantity. All quantity fields
are in units and price in rupees. The exchange specifies the unit of trading and the delivery unit
for futures contracts on various commodities. The exchange notifies the regular lot size and tick
size for each of the contracts traded from time to time. When any order enters the trading
system, it is an active order. It tries to find a match on the other side of the book. If it finds a
match, a trade is generated. If it does not find a match, the order becomes passive and gets
queued in the respective outstanding order book in the system, Time stamping is done for each
trade and provides the possibility for a complete audit trail if required
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
Time
Jan 20 contract
Feb 20 contract
March 20 contract
April 20 contract
May 20 contract
June 20 contra
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2.5c SETTLEMENT
Futures contracts have two types of settlements, the MTM settlement which happens on a
continuous basis at the end of each day, and the final settlement which happens on the last
trading day of the futures contract. On the NCDEX, daily MTM settlement and final MTM
settlement in respect of admitted deal in futures contracts are cash settled by debiting/crediting
the clearing accounts of CMs with the respective clearing bank. All positions of a CM, brought
forward, created during the day or closed out during the day, are marked to market at the daily
settlement price or the final settlement price at the close of trading hours on a day.
Daily settlement price: Daily settlement price is the consensus closing price as arrived
after closing session of the relevant futures contract for the trading day. However, in the absence
of trading for a contract during closing sessions, daily settlement price is computed as per the
methods prescribed by the exchange from time to time.
Final settlement price: Final settlement price is the closest price of the underlying
commodity on the last trading day of the futures contract. All open positions in a futures contract
cease to exist after its expiration day
Settlement mechanism:
Settlement of commodity futures contracts is a little different from settlement of financial
futures, which are mostly cash settled. The possibility of physical settlement makes the process a
little more complicated.
Types of
Settlement
Daily Settlement
Final Settlement
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On the day of entering into the contract, it is the difference between the entry value and daily
settlement price for that day.
On any intervening days, when the member holds an open position, it is the different between
the daily settlement price for that day and the previous days settlement price.
Final settlement
On the date of expiry, the final settlement price is the spot price on the expiry day. The spot
prices are collected from members across the country through polling. The polled bid/ask prices
are bootstrapped and the mid of the two bootstrapped prices is taken as the final settlement price.
The responsibility of settlement is on a trading cum clearing member for all trades done on his
own account and his clients trades. A professional clearing member is responsible for settling
all the participants trades, which he has confirmed to the exchange.
On the expiry date of a futures contract, members are required to submit delivery information
through delivery request window on the trader workstations provided by NCDEX for all open
positions for a commodity for all constituents individually.
information matches the information and arrives at a delivery position for a member for a
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commodity. A detailed report containing all matched and unmatched requests is provided to
members through the extranet.
Pursuant to regulations relating to submission of delivery information, failure to submit delivery
information for open positions attracts penal charges as stipulated by NCDEX from time to time.
NCDEX also adds all such open positions for a member, for which no delivery information is
submitted with final settlement obligations of the member concerned and settled in cash. Nonfulfillment of either the whole or part of the settlement obligations is treated as a violation of the
rules, bye-laws and regulations of NCDEX, and attracts penal charges as stipulated by NCDE
from time to time. In addition NCDEX can withdraw any or all of the membership rights of
clearing member including the withdrawal of trading facilities of all trading members clearing
through such clearing members, without any notice. Further, the outstanding positions of such
clearing member and/or trading members and/or constituents, clearing and settling through such
clearing member, may be closed out forthwith or any thereafter by the exchange to the extent
possible, by placing at the exchange, counter orders in respect of the outstanding position of
clearing member without any notice to the clearing member and / or trading member and / or
constituent.
NCDEX can also initiate such other risk containment measures, as it deems
additional measures like imposing penalties, collecting appropriate deposits, invoking bank
guarantees or fixed deposit receipts, realizing money by disposing off the securities and
exercising such other risk containment measures as it deems fit or take
further disciplinary action.
Settlement methods
Settlement of futures contracts on the NCDEX can be done in three ways by physical delivery
of the underlying asset, by closing out open positions and by cash settlement. We shall look at
each of these in some detail. On the NCDEX all contracts settling in cash are settled on the
following day after the contract expiry date. All contracts materializing into deliveries are settled
in a period 2-7 days after expiry. The exact settlement day for each commodity is specified by
the exchange.
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As mentioned above, after the trading hours on the expiry date, based on the available
information, the matching for deliveries is done, firstly, on the basis of locations and then
randomly keeping in view factors such as available capacity of the vault/warehouse,
commodities already deposited and dematerialized and offered for delivery and any other factor
as may be specified by the exchange from time to time. After completion of the matching
process, clearing members are informed of the deliverable/receivable positions and the
unmatched positions. Unmatched positions have to be settled in cash. The cash settlement is
done only for the incremental gain/loss as determined on the basis of the final settlement price.
Any buyer intending to take physicals has to put a request to his depository participant. The DP
uploads such requests to the specified depository who in turn forwards the same to the registrar
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and transfer agent (R&T agent) concerned. After due verification of the authenticity, the R&T
agent forwards delivery details to the warehouse which in turn arranges to release the
commodities after due verification of the identity of recipient. On a specified day, the buyer
would go to the warehouse and pick up the physicals.
The seller intending to make delivery has to take the commodities to the designated warehouse.
These commodities have to be assayed by the exchange specified assayer. The commodities have
to meet the contract specifications with allowed variances.
specifications, the warehouse accepts them. Warehouses then ensure that the receipts get updated
in the depository system giving a credit in the depositors electronic account. The seller then
gives the invoice to his clearing member, who would courier the same to the buyers clearing
member.
NCDEX contracts provide a standardized description for each commodity. The description is
provided in terms of quality parameters specific to the commodities. At the same time, it is
realized that with commodities, there could be some amount of variances in quality/weight etc.,
due to natural causes, which are beyond the control of any person. Hence/ NCDEX contracts
also provide tolerance limits for variances. A delivery is treated as good delivery and accepted if
the delivery lies within the tolerance limits. However, to allow for the difference, the concept of
premium and discount has been introduced. Goods that come to the authorized warehouse for
delivery are tested and graded as per the prescribed parameters. The premium and discount rates
apply depending on the level of variation. The price payable by the party taking delivery is then
adjusted as per the premium/discount rates fixed by the exchange. This ensures that some
amount of leeway is provided for delivery, but at the same time, the buyer taking delivery does
not face windfall loss/gain due to the quantity/quality variation at the time of taking delivery.
This, to some extent, mitigates the difficulty in delivering and receiving exact quality/quantity of
commodity.
sale and a sale contract is closed out by a buy. For example, an investor who took a long position
in two gold futures contracts on the January 30, 2004 at 6090, can close his position by selling
two gold futures contracts on February 27, 2004 at Rs.5928. In this case, over the period of
holding the position he has suffered a loss of Rs.162 per unit. This loss would have been debited
from his margin account over the holding period by way of MTM at the end of each day, and
finally at the price that he closes his position, that is Rs. 5928 in this case.
CASH SETTLEMENT
Contracts held till the last day of trading can be cash settled. When a contract is settled in cash,
it is marked to the market at the end of the last trading day and all positions are declared closed.
The settlement prince on the last trading day is set equal to the closing spot price of the
underlying asset ensuring the convergence of future prices and the spot prices. For example an
investor took a short position in five long staple cotton futures contracts on December 15 at Rs.
6950. On 20th February, the last trading day of the contract, the spot price of long staple cotton is
Rs. 6725. This is the settlement price for his contract. As a holder of a short position on cotton,
he does not have to actual deliver the underlying cotton but simply takes away the profit of Rs.
225 per trading unit of cotton in the form of cash entities involved in physical settlement.
The cost-of-carry model explicitly defines the relationship between the futures price and the
related spot price. The difference between the spot price and the futures price is called the basis.
We see that as a futures contract nears expiration, the basis reduces to zero. This means that
there is a convergence of the futures price to the price of the underlying asset. This happens
because if the futures price is above the spot price during the delivery period it gives rise to a
clear arbitrage.
As the date of expiration comes near, the basis reduces = there is a convergence of the
futures price towards the spot price (Figure 6, 1). On the date of expiration, the basis is
zero. If it is not, then there is an arbitrage opportunity. Arbitrage opportunities can also
arise when the basis (difference between spot and futures
difference between prices of two futures contracts) during the life of a contract are
incorrect. At a later stage we shall look at how these arbitrage opportunities can be
exploited.
There is nothing but cost of carry related arbitrage that drives the behavior of the futures
price in the case of investment assets. In the case of consumption assets, we need to
factor in the benefit provided by holding the physical commodity.
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2.8 Speculation
An entity having an opinion on the price movements of a given commodity can speculate using
the commodity market. While the basics of speculation apply to any market, speculating in
commodities is not as simple as speculating on stocks in the financial market. For a speculator
who thinks the shares of a given company will rise. It is easy to buy the shares and hold them for
whatever duration he wants to. However, commodities are bulky products and come with all the
costs and procedures of handling these products. The commodities futures markets provide
speculators with an easy mechanism to speculate on the price of underlying commodities.
To trade commodity futures on the NCDEX, a customer must open a futures trading account with
a commodity derivatives broker. Buying futures simply involves putting in the margin money.
This enables futures traders to take a position in the underlying commodity without having to
actually hold that commodity. With the purchase of futures contract on a commodity, the holder
essentially makes a legally binding promise or obligation to buy the underlying security at some
point in the future (the expiration date of the contract). We look here at how the commodity
futures markets can be used for speculation.
Today a speculator can take exactly the same position on gold by using gold futures contracts.
Let us see how this works. Gold trades at Rs.6000 per 10 gms and three-months gold futures
trades at Rs.6150. Tables 7.3 gives the contract specifications for gold futures. The unit of
trading is 100 gms and the delivery unit for the gold futures contract on the NCDEX is 1 kg. He
buys one kg of gold futures which have a value of Rs.6,15,000. Buying an asset in the futures
markets only require making margin payments. To take this position, he pays a margin of
Rs.1,20,000. Three months later gold trades at Rs.6400 per10 gms. As we know, on the day of
expiration, the futures price converges to the spot Price (else there would be a risk-free arbitrage
opportunity). He closes his long futures position at Rs.64,000 in the process making a profit of
Rs.25,000 on an initial margin investment of Rs.1,20,000. This works out to an annual return of
83percent. Because of the leverage they provide, commodity futures form an attractive tool for
speculators.
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2.9 Arbitrage
A central idea in modern economics is the law of one price. This states that in a competitive
market, if two assets are equivalent from the point of view of risk and return, they should sell at
the same price. If the price of the same asset is different in two markets, there will be operators
who will buy in the market where the asset sells cheap and sell in the market where it is costly.
This activity termed as arbitrage, involves the simultaneous purchase and sale of the same or
essentially similar security in two different markets for advantageously different prices. The
buying cheap and swelling expensive continues till prices in the two markets reach equilibrium.
Hence, arbitrage helps to equalize prices and restore market efficiency.
F = (S+U)eeT
Where:
Cost of financing (annualized)
T
U
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Chapter 3
Research Methodology
organization.
To identify general practices that organizations use to attract investors.
To determine the selection practices which are most effective.
To determine how the selection practices affect organizational outcomes and investors
profit.
3.3 Research design:Exploratory research:-The research design used in this project is the exploratory type.
Exploratory type of research is used because the sources of information are relatively few and
the purpose is merely to find and to understand the possible actions.
The exploratory study is often used as an introductory phase of a larger study and results are used
in developing specific technique for larger study.
Primary Data
Personal meet with portfolio managers, Brokers, Sub brokers and Investors.
Using two questionaaires- one for investors, and the other for brokers/sub-brokers to get
.
Surveys
Surveys involve collecting information, usually from fairly large groups of people, by means of
questionnaires but other techniques such as interviews or telephoning may also be used. There
are different types of survey. The most straightforward type (the one shot survey) is
administered to a sample of people at a set point in time. Another type is the before and after
survey which people complete before a major event or experience and then again afterwards.
Questionnaires
Questionnaires are a good way to obtain information from a large number of people and/or
people who may not have the time to attend an interview or take part in experiments. They
enable people to take their time, think about it and come back to the questionnaire later.
Participants can state their views or feelings privately without worrying about the possible
reaction of the researcher. Unfortunately, some people may still be inclined to try to give socially
acceptable answers. People should be encouraged to answer the questions as honestly as possible
so as to avoid the researchers drawing false conclusions from their study.
Questionnaires typically contain multiple choice questions, attitude scales, closed questions and
open-ended questions. The drawback for researchers is that they usually have a fairly low
response rate and people do not always answer all the questions and/or do not answer them
correctly. Questionnaires can be administered in a number of different ways (e.g. sent by post or
as email attachments, posted on Internet sites, handed out personally or administered to captive
audience (such as people attending conferences). Researchers may even decide to administer the
questionnaire in person which has the advantage of including people who have difficulties
34
reading and writing. In this case, the participant may feel that s/he is taking part in an interview
rather than completing a questionnaire as the researcher will be noting down the responses on
his/her behalf.
Interviews
Interviews are usually carried out in person i.e. face-to-face but can also be administered by
telephone or using more advance computer technology such as Skype. Sometimes they are held
in the interviewees home, sometimes at a more neutral place. It is important for interviewees to
decide whether they are comfortable about inviting the researcher into their home and whether
they have a room or area where they can speak freely without disturbing other members of the
household. Here I have interviewed investors face to face
The interviewer (which is not necessarily the researcher) could adopt a formal or informal
approach, either letting the interviewee speak freely about a particular issue or asking specific
pre-determined questions. This will have been decided in advance and depend on the approach
used by the researchers. A semi-structured approach would enable the interviewee to speak
relatively freely, at the same time allowing the researcher to ensure that certain issues were
covered. I had informal way of interview with investors
Secondary Data
The secondary data are the main source for the data collection for my project analyzing.
Secondary data analysis, however, is the use of data that was collected by someone else for some
other purpose. In this case, the researcher poses questions that are addressed through the analysis
of a data set that they were not involved in collecting. The data was not collected to answer the
researchers specific research questions and was instead collected for another purpose.
gives information about foreign trade i.e. import and export. These figures are provided
region-wise and country-wise.
Ministry of Commerce and Industries- This ministry through the office of economic
advisor provides information on wholesale price index. These indices may be related to a
number of sectors like food, fuel, power, food grains etc. It also generates All India
Consumer Price Index numbers for industrial workers, urban, non manual employees and
cultural labourers.
Planning Commission- It provides the basic statistics of Indian Economy.
Reserve Bank of India- This provides information on Banking Savings and investment.
36
The only disadvantage of the above sources is that the data may be biased. They are likely to
colour their negative points.
3.
Syndicate Services- These services are provided by certain organizations which collect and
tabulate the marketing information on a regular basis for a number of clients who are the
subscribers to these services. So the services are designed in such a way that the information
suits the subscriber. These services are useful in television viewing, movement of consumer
goods etc. These syndicate services provide information data from both household as well as
institution.In collecting data from household they use three approaches
4.
Various syndicate services are Operations Research Group (ORG) and The Indian
Marketing Research Bureau (IMRB).
.
5. International Organization- These includes :
data on foreign trade, industry, food, transport, and science and technology.
The International Monetary Fund (IMA)- It publishes reports on national and
international foreign exchange regulations.
37
OBJECTIVES
38
Chapter 4
Analysis and Interpretation
39
4.1 ANALYSIS
Objective: The objective of the analysis is to evaluate the profit/loss position of hedger. This
analysis is done based on the sample data. The sample is taken as Gold commodity of December
to January prices. The delivery unit is 1 kg. Trading unit is 100 gm. Quotation/base value Rs.per
10 gms. Of Gold with 999.99 finess. Tick size is 5 paise. As the commodity Gold is volatile in
nature, it is chosen as a sample for analysis. The spot price and futures price is taken from
various news papers. Like economic times, business standard and business line. Of course, from
the NCDEX (National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited)
difference in how you do your trading and how well you do it. The key to successfully trading
commodities is understanding the market and also knowing when best to trade or hold your
commodities, your online broker and platform can help you work out when it is best to trade and
understand where the price action is going.
The ability to Trade commodities has been round for a while but it is now experiencing a growth
in popularity as more people begin to find that commodity trading is a great way to build their
investment portfolios and that it can also be very profitable. Individuals that are interested in
commodities trading need to first find an online broker and a trading platform such as
UFXMarkets where they can trade. A superb platform like UFXMarkets can make a huge
difference in how you do your trading and how well you do it. The key to successfully trading
commodities is understanding the market and also knowing when best to trade or hold your
commodities, your online broker and platform can help you work out when it is best to trade and
understand where the price action is going. I have taken gold as a commodity to show the
analysis
41
As depicted above, while the overall return of a portfolio without gold is 14%, that of a
portfolio with gold is over 16%. Hence an allocation of physical gold in a financial
portfolio not just helps reduce the impact of the volatility created by the other asset
classes like equity, bonds etc., but also increases the average return over a period of time.
A financial portfolio containing gold is generally more robust because it improves the
stability and predictability of better average returns.
42
Gold is the most liquid asset class due to its universal acceptance as an alternative to
currency, and also because globally, the gold market is functional 24x7.
Same cannot be said about any other asset class as they take much longer time to
liquidate (from 1 day to up to 3-4 months).
43
Due to its inverse relationship to dollar, gold has always proved to be an effective hedge
over a period of time.
A study conducted by WGC in UK shows that one ounce of Gold would consistently
purchase the same amount of goods & services as it would have done 400 years ago,
making it the perfect hedge against inflation over a long period of time.
Other Reasons
More liquid as compared to the other asset classes Gold can be bought, sold or traded
globally.
It doesn't require political & social stability to survive, in fact it thrives under worst
societal conditions.
Inspite of the growing demand for gold in India, average retail household has seldom considered
investing in gold because of the absence of an efficient and effective platform. MCX bridges
this requirement by introducing an ideal investment platform for investment in gold by retail
household. i-gold .
What is i-gold?
"i-gold is a platform which facilitates intelligent investment in gold with an option of Physical
Transparent pricing.
Option of Demating
No risk of storage
Simple process
Advantages to an Investor
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Transparent screen based price at par with the prevailing spot price.
Convenience of buying gold at the investors discretion - without visiting the outlet unlike
today
Assured Quality & Purity 24 k,995 & 999 fineness gold bars imported from LBMA
approved overseas suppliers
Advantages to a Jeweller
A platform to trade in physical gold with shorter & 100% guaranteed delivery cycle vis a
vis futures market.
Transparent screen based price at par with the prevailing spot price.
Assured Quality & Purity - 24 k, 995 & 999 fineness gold bars LBMA approved
Day 1-6 - Buy /sell depending on margin money with the broker/exchange based on
Mark to Market (MTM).
Day 7 - Intimate the status of their respective open position to Buyers & Sellers.
Day 8 - Seller members MUST deposit the physical gold in the Group 4 vault / deliver
through demat form.
Physical delivery of gold (Docs: Authorisation form filled and signed along with the
photograph of the investor/authorized person of the broker, proof of identity. (photo id
card)
Demat and hold in demat account (Docs: Commodity Deposit Form CDF and Original
Allocation Letter)
Costs structure
Brokerage (Buy/sell)
value
12.24% on brokerage
VAT
1% of transaction value
Tax Treatment
Wealth Tax
Investment > Rs.15 lacs will attract 1% of the value of assets (including gold) as on 31st
March of every year.
Short term if bought and sold within 36 months at the applicable tax rate
Hedging
Many participants in the commodity futures market are hedgers. They use the futures market to
reduce a particular risk that they face. This risk might relate to the price of wheat or oil or any
other commodity that the person deals in. The classic hedging example is that of wheat farmer
who wants to hedge the risk of fluctuations in the price of wheat around the time that his crop is
ready for harvesting. By selling his crop forward, he obtains a hedge by locking in to a
predetermined price. Hedging does not necessarily improve the financial outcome; indeed, it
could make the outcome worse. What it does however is, that it makes the outcome more certain.
Hedgers could be government institutions, private corporations like financial institutions, trading
48
companies and even other participants in the value chain, for instance farmers, extractors,
ginners, processors etc., who are influenced by the commodity prices.
Types of hedging
1)
Long hedge
2)
Short hedge
Long hedge
Hedges that involve taking a long position in a futures contract are known as long hedges. A long
hedge is appropriate when a company knows it will have to purchase a certain asset in the future
and wants to lock in a price now.
Short hedge
A short hedge is a hedge that requires a short position in futures contracts. As we said, a short
hedge is appropriate when the hedger already owns the asset, or is likely to own the asset and
expects to sell it at some time in the future. For example, a short hedge could be used by a cotton
farmer who expects the cotton crop to be ready for sale in the next two months. A short hedge
can also be used when the asset is not owned at the moment but is likely to be owned in the
future. For example, an exporter who knows that he or she will receive a dollar payment three
months later. He makes a gain if the dollar increases in value relative to the rupee and makes a
loss if the dollar decreases in value relative to the rupee. A short futures position will give him
the hedge he does.
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4.2 Limitations
1) The sample is chosen as commodity future contract gold 100gm gold.
2) The study is confined to December 2007 to January 2008 month only.
3) The data gathered is completely restricted to the spot and future prices of commodity gold 100
gms. Of December to January 27, 2008 and hence cannot be taken universally.
4) Our study is limited to the trading strategies. For hedging, this includes long hedge and short
hedge.
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Chapter 5
Findings and Suggestions
51
5.1 Findings
The research has found that rate of return, on commodity and steady income P and taking into
consideration the various attributes much. Honesty in dealers as most important reasons for
people to invest in a portfolio management services.
What clients require is a package of services including tax planning and professional advices
for their resources. If PMS is sold along with other services offered by a finance company,
the number of takers would be substantial. This would help build a long term sustained
relationship with customer. PMS could be positioned separately for different segments. This
call for scientifically designed Niche Marketing strategy targeted at offering specialized
services to each segment.
Clients would not mind paying higher service charges what matters to them is utmost is the
portfolio is handled and services and value for money is expected at large.
Most investors are shy because of some past losses suffered in the stock market gamble or
became PMS restricts itself from offering any guarantee of return. An effort to evoke trust
based on repute and track record of the company needs to put break the shell of investor
conservatism.
The study observed various parameters of investment affecting investors and brokers and subbrokers who are offereing investment services including investment in the commodity
market.It is recommended that computer services who are already in the field of financial
services and offer services as loan arrangement ,ECB, working capital arrangement and no. of
term loans have large no. of
individuals and senior executives of the corporates can easily get into the area of PMS.
52
Besides this it has huge data base of high end investor and NRI who invest in Indian prime
markets and those who are already investors in the secondary market .
All it needs to do is buy a BSE/NSE on line terminal and buy softwares which helps in
research of commodities.
The ability to Trade commodities has been round for a while but it is now experiencing a
growth in popularity as more people begin to find that commodity trading is a great way to
build their investment portfolios and that it can also be very profitable. Individuals that are
interested in commodities trading need to first find an online broker and a trading platform
such as NASDAQ where they can trade. The key to successfully trading commodities is
understanding the market and also knowing when best to trade or hold your commodities,
online broker and platform can help work out when it is best to trade and understand where
the price action is going.
Gold trading online is a very popular form of this type of trading. It allows investors to
partake in online gold trading which can be very profitable if they are on the right side of the
market. The reason that so many businesses, industries, and individuals like to trade
commodities is that everyone uses commodities and needs them in order to provide a service
or a product. Prices of commodities largely depend on the supply and demand for that
commodity that you may be interested in investing in. For example if you have purchased
soybean and there is a sudden shortage of soybean you will find that because there is a higher
demand by the industry for a commodity with a low supply the value of your investment will
increase. When this occurs it is an opportunity to trade soybean and realize your profit from
the investment.
Investors that have been trading stocks and commodities for a time find that by investing in
commodities they are able to diversify their total investment portfolios and reduce their risk of
a sudden and expensive drop in their investment portfolio.
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Table 4.2
Of all the precious metals, gold is the most popular as an investment.[1] Investors generally buy
gold as a way of diversifying risk. The gold market is subject to speculation as are other markets,
especially through the use of futures contracts and derivatives. Gold price has shown a long term
correlation with the price of crude oil.[2] This suggests a reason why gold is sold off during
economic weakness.
interest, to fall, and as interest rates dip, for gold price to rise. As a result, gold price can be
closely correlated to central banks via the monetary policy decisions made by them related to
interest rates.
Short selling
Short selling of gold can be done in either futures markets or physical markets and negative delta
positions can be taken in many other derivatives. Trading in futures markets is an important
driver of gold prices and this has led to repeated claims of market manipulation, mostly by
people who believe that gold prices have been artificially suppressed. These claims center largely
around naked short selling, a term usually used for an often abusive practice of shorting stocks
without first locating a source to borrow the stocks from. It is not usually used in the context of
futures trading for any non-precious metal commodity as a very large percentage of futures
trading in any commodity is done by speculators who have no ability or intention to deliver the
commodity but intend on closing their positions prior to contract expiration.
55
5.2 SUGGETIONS
The commodities are very complex financial instruments. Hence the investor should take
should be introduced.
The SEBI and the Stock Exchanges should take more actions (investors awareness
56
Chapter 6
Conclusion
6.1 CONCLUSION
57
rapid manner, now it going to equalize with the financial derivatives trading volumes.
First derivatives emerged as hedging products in commodities.
These commodities are the risk management instruments which transfers the pricing risks
to other parties.
Internationally, commodity derivatives are exchange - traded.
In the bullish market, the investors can earn profits by buying the commodity futures.
In the bearish market, the investors can earn profits by selling the commodity futures.
The hedgers can transfer their risks to other parties by ways of long hedge and short
hedge.
The speculators can build large positions with little margins by way of leverage and their
6.2 BIBLIOGRAPHY
WEBSITES:
58
For information
www.wikipedia.com
For definitions
www.investopedia.com
Commodities market
http://www.nasdaq.com/markets/gold.aspx
59
Questionnaire
Questionnaire for Investment trends and practices.
60
In 5 to 10 years
[]
In 11 to 20 years
[]
In 21 to 30 years
[]
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In over 30 years
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
Precarious
Somewhat Precarious
Somewhat Stable
Good
Very Good
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
8.Suppose the markets go through a difficult period, what decrease in the value of your
investment of your investments could tolerate?
No decrease
[]
Less than 5%
[]
Between 5% and 10% []
Between 10% and 20% []
Over 20%
[]
9. How would you rate your level of knowledge in the area on investment?
Poor
[]
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Limited
Moderate
Good
Very good
[]
[]
[]
[]
[]
Commodities
[]
Real assets
[]
Mutual funds
[]
14. Are you satisfied with the returns of the investment in the commodity market?
.
15. Would you like to shift from commodity market to the other markets for investment?
16. Do you feel trading has increased in recent years? If yes then why?
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..
..
17. Are you able to generate profit after the speculations in the market?
18. Do you believe that commodities market is better than other investment options?
..
19. What do you think are the most important reason to invest in commodities specially in Gold?
.
20. Do you think Gold is a better commodity to invest in.?
..
64