OREANDA-NEWS. SGX Iron Ore Weekly Options Report (26-30 Sep 2016)

Key Highlights

  • The put-call open interest ratio (for Oct-2016 to Dec-2016 expiry) increased 0.02 points w-o-w to 1.24. The price for the most active futures month (i.e. Oct-2016) of the underlying SGX Iron Ore (62% Fe Fines) contract declined 2% to US$54.99/MT.
  • SGX iron ore options volume for the week totaled 37,750 lots – up 19.9% w-o-w (4.2 mil mt – up 33.9% w-o-w). Trading activity remains concentrated in puts (71% of total volumes) with 54% of put activity in contract months beyond 2016 around the $31 strike. The remaining calls and puts were traded around $40-$60 strikes.
  • Meanwhile, open interest closed the week at 659,823 lots – down 20.6% w-o-w (76.5 mil mt – down 21.0% w-o-w), mainly due to cash settlement of the Sep-2016 contract. Excluding Sep-2016 contracts, w-o-w open interest was up 2.5% (up 2.6% in tonnage terms).