China's futures market sees over 30-pct growth in transaction value in Sept

Futures trading in China registered a significant increase in transaction value in September, with a clear trend towards structural optimization in the market, data showed on Monday.

Calculated on a single-side basis, the transaction value of the futures market hit 71.5 trillion yuan (about 10.05 trillion U.S. dollars) last month, up 33 percent, according to data from the China Futures Association.

The transaction volume of the market stood at 770 million contracts in September, down 3.03 percent year on year.

From January to September, the cumulative volume of futures trading increased by 18 percent to some 6.7 billion contracts.

The total transaction value of the market surged by 24.11 percent to over 547 trillion yuan during the period.

"The overall market shows a situation of 'decreased volume but increased value'. This is mainly due to the divergence across sectors. The transaction volume of agricultural products, such as traditional soybeans and oils, has seen a certain decline, while the precious metals sector, which has been highly sought after, experienced comprehensive and significant growth. The active trading of high-value products has driven the overall increase in transaction value," said Yang Yinghui, deputy general manager of COFCO Futures.

Yang said that global factors have spurred investor activity, particularly in the precious metals sector.

"The U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate in September led to a significant surge in investors' interest in precious metals. Additionally, uncertainties caused by U.S. tariff policies heightened investors' risk aversion sentiment toward precious metals, resulting in highly frequent trading," she said.

In the financial market, the China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX) recorded a transaction volume of more than 35 million contracts for financial futures and options in September, accounting for 4.5 percent of the national market.

The CFFEX handled over 29 trillion yuan in transactions last month, accounting for 41.42 percent of the national market.

China's futures market sees over 30-pct growth in transaction value in Sept

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's official visit to China signals a policy shift towards building a more pragmatic relationship between the two countries, according to a Canadian researcher.

Carney arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin an official visit to China through Saturday, which marks the first trip by a Canadian Prime Minister to the country in eight years.

Robert Hanlon, director and principal investigator of Canada and the Asia Pacific Policy Project (CAPPP) at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, told the China Global Television Network (CGTN) that Carney's visit indicates Canada is recalibrating its strategic perception of China, which could cement the foundation for the country's economic diversification efforts and boost the development of bilateral cooperation.

"I think it's a clear message that he has moved Canada's strategy to a much more pragmatic, interest-based, -focused relationship with our trading partners, moving away from values-based narratives that we might have heard on previous governments. Canada has spoken about moving from what the Prime Minister's Office is calling "from reliance to resilience", and that means diversifying our economies and our trade everywhere in the world. And so China being our second largest trading partner, it makes perfect sense for our PM to head to Beijing," he said.

The scholar also noted the huge cooperation potential between the two sides in economic and trade fields, citing Canada's efforts to step up shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the planned construction of an oil pipeline in Alberta which aims to increase export access to Asian markets. "Canada and China both share tremendous economic opportunities together and so finding ways to enhance our exports. Canada specifically looking to build out its LNG and oil, kind of export market. We know Canada is a major producer of critical minerals and China is a buyer. And so there's a lot of synergy between that kind of those kind of markets," he said.

Canadian PM's visit to China paves way for more pragmatic trade ties: scholar