Pakistan launches Commodity Index

The National Commodity Exchange Limited (NCEL) this weel launched the first Commodity Index of Pakistan.

The NCEL Commodity Index based on the composition of five commodities available for trading on NCEL covering gold, silver, crude oil, palm olien,  and Irri-6 Rice.

The Index  is designed to provide a diversified benchmark for commodities traded on the nation’s only futures exchange.

The Commodity Index is an equally subjective  price index representing the  price movements of a portfolio of physical commodities listed on NCEL., according to Samper  Ahmed.This Index is launched to meet the increasing demand to track commodity prices and will serve as a reference measure of commodities sectors in the country,” chairman NCEL Sameer Ahmad  said.

The commodity futures offer insurance against the periods of unexpected inflation,  keeping  the participants aware of happenings in the commodities world as it will affect  all other areas of economic activity, he said.

The Index was calculated on a 1000 base from a corresponding period of May 11, 2007 when NCEL formally launched its operation. The index currently stands at 1921 and will be calculated on a daily basis

 “The investor interest is extremely strong across the whole five commodities complex and NCEL is a trustworthy platform to trade on because of its modern risk management techniques such as pre-trade risk check in real-time” he said.

Commodities as an asset is now equal in importance to other trdaiditonal markets like stocks, bonds and currencies. The current shiftand trend  in global economy has placed commodities at the center stage in terms of world growth.