THE Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) yesterday started publishing an index linked to the prices of its crude oil futures contracts, a year after the launch of futures trading, the ShFE said in a release posted on its WeChat channel.

The crude oil futures index will measure the price movements and the rate of return for the most actively traded contract for the ShFE’s crude futures, according to the release.

The ShFE began calculating the index based on futures trading during the night session of March 25 and the index rose during trading yesterday.

The ShFE also plans to deepen cooperation with Chinese stock exchanges by launching a crude oil exchange-traded fund (ETF) and other new products.

This will help improve the structure of investors and lower systemic risks of investment portfolio, it said.

China launched its yuan-denominated crude oil futures March 26 last year, and it has gained substantial volumes from international Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures.

The total trading volume of the ShFE crude oil futures contracts was 36.7 million lots by March 25, the exchange said in separate release yesterday.

(SD-Agencies)