OREANDA-NEWS. June 8, 2012. With the launch of futures on BRICS benchmark equity indices on June 6, 2012, all Russian investors, for the first time, got an opportunity for easy exposure to these fast-growing markets. This became possible thanks to the joint efforts of the BRICS exchanges alliance that was formed on 12 October 2011. The initiative brings together the BM&FBOVESPA from Brazil, MICEX-RTS Exchange from Russia, the BSE Ltd (formerly known as Bombay Stock Exchange) from India, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx), and the JSE Limited (Johannesburg Stock Exchange) from South Africa.

The first stage of the BRICS exchanges' cooperation is cross-listing of benchmark equity index derivatives on all the participating trading venues. As a result, all MICEX-RTS clients have been provided access to the following financial instruments:

futures contract on the BOVESPA Index;

futures contract on the Sensex Index;

futures contract on the Hang Seng Index;

futures contract on the FTSE/JSE Top40 Index

This is a unique project that opens up new opportunities for economic cooperation in the BRICS region. The initiative provides more investors with an easy access to the dynamic BRICS economies which will facilitate liquidity growth in these markets and considerably strengthen the international position of the BRICS alliance in the global economy.

At the second stage of the project members of the alliance plan to jointly develop a single index tracking performance of the BRICS markets and create a futures on this indicator. The third stage may include further cooperation in joint products design and new services development.

"The exchanges alliance is a true-to-life reflection of the growing economic power of the BRICS countries. These economies account for over 50% of the global GDP increase. Without any doubts, the BRICS exchanges alliance has a great future," comments Vadim Lukov, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russia"s sous-sherpa in G8, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Coordinator for G20 and BRIC Affairs.

"Today marks a milestone in development of competitive advantages of the Russian securities market," says Ruben Aganbegyan, President, CEO at MICEX-RTS. "The underlying indices of the newly launch futures contracts are well established benchmarks tracking development of BRICS markets, and the availability of derivatives on these indicators will enable both Russian investors and our international partners to extend their investment opportunities in the global financial markets."

During the first hour of trading market participants executed 15 trades in the newly launched contracts.