Macquarie Group launches S&P 500 warrants on Bursa Malaysia today

by **Cals** Fri 01 Jul 2016, 01:19

Macquarie Group launches S&P 500 warrants on Bursa Malaysia today

By Meena Lakshana / theedgemarkets.com | June 30, 2016 : 10:08 AM MYT

KUALA LUMPUR (June 30): Macquarie Group's S&P 500 call and put warrants begun trading on Bursa Malaysia today at a price range between 80 sen to RM1.

The warrants will offer an opportunity for Malaysian investors to trade the moves in the United States (US) markets in the Malaysian timezone, with investors being able to gain exposure to the S&P 500, which tracks the largest 500 companies listed on the New York stock and Nasdaq stock exchanges.

Macquarie Securities Group Southeast Asia division director and head of derivatives Barnaby Matthews said index warrants command 70% of the total warrant market turnover in Malaysia, indicating index warrants are gaining traction among Malaysian investors.

"Index warrants here have been very powerful for retail investors because they can gauge the outlook on the market via tge index," he said during his speech at the launch of Macquarie's S&P 500 warrants here.

Macquarie's S&P 500 warrants was also launched on the Singapore stock exchange (SGX) two days ago.

Barnaby said the group has launched two put and two call warrants today, and expects to launch four to six warrants every quarter on Bursa Malaysia.

He said Macquarie Group is eyeing Thailand's stock exchange next, and hopes to launch its S&P 500 warrants by the end of this year on the Thai stock exchange.

"We'd like to list in Thailand but foreign indices-related warrants are not allowed in the Thai warrant market," he told reporters at a press conference later.

"But it is expected to change in Thailand later this year so we expect to launch the warrants later this year," he added.