Moscow Exchange, or Moskovskaya Birzha MMVB-RTS PAO (MCX:MOEX), today announces new additions to its offering. On January 13, 2021, Moscow Exchange will begin trading futures-style options on natural gas and on Yandex N.V. ordinary shares.

The natural gas option will provide Russian market participants and their clients with additional opportunities to trade global commodity instruments. The Yandex N.V. option will help investors in the management of equity portfolios.

The gas option mirrors the Henry Hub Natural Gas American-Style Option traded on NYMEX, part of CME Group. The next upcoming option series will expire in January 2021.

The Yandex N.V. options will expire on the third Thursdays of March, June, September and December.

Moscow Exchange’s natural gas futures contract was launched on February 3, 2020. In 2020, MOEX’s average daily trading volume in the contract was RUB 306 million, and the average daily trading volume in commodities was RUB 110 billion. In 2020 the average daily trading volume in futures and options on equities and indices grew more than 1.5 times year-on-year to RUB 148,6 billion.

Currently, the MOEX Derivatives Market offers 77 futures contracts and 37 options on futures on equity indices, Russian and foreign shares, currency pairs, precious metals and industrial metals, oil, gas and other commodities, as well as interest rates.

Speaking of MOEX’s offering, let’s recall that, on December 21, 2020, the Moscow Exchange Derivatives Market launched trading in a deliverable futures contract on wheat. The new instrument was designed in partnership with VTB Capital to meet the needs of various market participants including agricultural producers, processors, wheat exporters as well as banks, brokers and their clients.

The contract is quoted in RUB per ton of class 4 wheat. The contract size is 25 tons. Wheat will be delivered to elevators in the Voronezh region in March, September and December. At the contract launch, the authorized elevators for delivery are Rossosh Elevator and Grain Base of Povorino. The list of elevators will be expanded in future.

VTB Capital acts as the primary market maker for the contract.