The Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) announced that September 2012 trading volume averaged 120,650 contracts per day, up 55.4% from August 2012.
Average daily volume increased for all TOCOM contracts on a month-over-month basis: Trading in Gold, the most active product at TOCOM, was up 67.8% to 58,241 contracts. The Gold Mini was up 67.4% to 10,175 contracts and Platinum was up 56.4% to 19,026 contracts.
Recent announcements of additional stimulus plans by the central banks of Japan and the United States are estimated to have improved market sentiment. The Federal Reserve Bank announced a third quantitative easing in its FOMC statement of September 13. The Bank of Japan revealed new monetary easing plans on September 19.
Open interest at the end of September for all listed contracts totaled 321,803, a decrease of 6,877 (2.09%) from the prior month.
