Latest: Leonteq rolls out ‘market dividend opportunities’ AMC play

Following the launch of the cooperation between Leonteq and The Market to bring to the market a tracker certificate linked to The Market Best Ideas Portfolio Index in January 2021, the two companies have partnered again to expand their offering with a new exchange-traded tracker certificate linked to the performance of the Market Dividend Opportunities Portfolio Index.

The Market Dividend Portfolio comprises a mix of 20 to 25 equally weighted Swiss stocks from all sectors selected in response to the market situation at the time. The dividend stocks are selected on the basis of a fundamental analysis and include stocks that offer sustainable dividend growth, have a reliable cashflow and a sound balance sheet, and issue reasonable payouts relative to profits. For tactical reasons the portfolio may hold an exposure to cash.

The portfolio listed as an actively managed certificate (AMC) is targeted at investors with a long investment horizon looking for Swiss dividend stocks.

Since its launch in early 2020, The Market Dividend Opportunities Portfolio has delivered a total return of 17.7%, according to Mark Dittli (pictured), founding partner and editor in chief of The Market.

SGX expand leverage/inverse range

Two new daily leverage certificates (DLCs) and structured warrants (SWs) tracking Baidu (9988) are now available on Singapore Exchange (SGX). These will expire on 11 May 2022 and 5 October 2021, respectively, and are available in long and short positions.  

The traded value of SWs has dropped 38% to SG$190m in April month-on-month (MoM), or down 57% year-on-year (YoY). Nearly 86.8% of the value was traded on index underlyings led by Hang Seng Index. The number of new listings reached a new high at 20 since it plunged to 11 in January from 65 a month ago.

In the meantime, the traded value of DLCs declined 34% to SG$143m MoM, or flat YoY. Approximately 95.3% of the figure was traded on equity underlyings with the most active being Tencent (0700). Four new DLCs were marketed in April, lower than the 31 a month ago, tracking Meituan, Smoore, DBS and CityDev.

Bitwise goes with Moorgate Benchmarks for new crypto index

Bitwise Asset Management’s index division Bitwise Index Services (Bitwise) has chosen Moorgate Benchmarks as the calculation agent of the recently launched Bitwise Crypto Innovators 30 Index, which will underly the new Bitwise Crypto Innovators 30 ETF.

This new index provides focused exposure to companies that are building the future of the crypto asset-enabled decentralised economy and includes companies with at least US$100 million of liquid crypto assets on their balance sheet.

In most cases, companies in the new index derive at least 75% of their revenue from directly servicing cryptocurrency markets or have at least 75% of their net assets accounted for by direct holdings of liquid crypto assets. Such companies may, for example, offer crypto brokerage services, financial and banking services, mining solutions, technology solutions, or analytics solutions.

The Crypto Innovators 30 Index is divided into two tiers: a pure-play tier composed of companies that are primarily focused on the crypto market, and a supporting tier composed of large-cap companies with diversified business interests that include at least one significant public business line focused on the crypto market. The index rebalances quarterly.

Spectrum Markets releases investor sentiment indicator

Pan-European trading venue for securitised derivatives Spectrum Markets has launched the Spectrum European Retail Investor Index (Serix), which uses the exchange’s pan-European trading data to shed light on investor sentiment towards current development in financial markets.

The index is calculated on a monthly basis by subtracting the proportion of bearish trades from the proportion of bullish trades, to give a single figure (rebased at 100) that indicates the strength and direction of sentiment [Serix = (% bullish trades - % bearish trades) + 100].

Trades where long instruments are bought and trades where short instruments are sold are both considered bullish trades. Trades where long instruments are sold and trades where short instruments are bought are considered bearish trades. Of all securitised derivatives traded in April, 82.9% was on indices, 11.8% on currency pairs and 5.3% on commodities. The top three traded underlying markets were DAX (23.1%), OMX 30 (23%) and S&P 500 (14%).

Looking at the three most popular underlyings in April, Serix data revealed improving retail investor sentiment towards the DAX, as it moved into bullish territory with a value of 101, compared to 97 and 93 in February and March respectively. The OMX 30 remained bearish in April at 94, though sentiment on this market is trending more positive since the start of the year where it has ranged from 90 to 91. Meanwhile sentiment around the S&P 500 was sharply bearish, dipping to 90 last month, which is the lowest reading for this market since August 2020.

Gold also remained popular, with a Serix value of 107, continuing a theme seen since August last year in which bullish sentiment has ranged between 102 and 111.

The exchange recorded 54.4 million securitised derivatives traded on its exchange in April, with 36% of trades happening outside of traditional hours.

Virtu sets RFQ-hub quarter record in single stock options

Virtu Financial has reported that its electronic bilateral request-for-quote (RFQ) platform, RFQ-hub, surpassed its previous quarter record in single stock options by 37% in Q1 2021.

The bilateral multi-asset and multi-dealer request for quote platform delivered a notional trading volume of €24.6 billion (US$29.7 billion) for the quarter.

David Angel, head of continental Europe, Virtu Financial, said that asset managers are increasingly relying on RFQ-hub to negotiate derivatives transactions.

The platform recently deployed new infrastructure, ergonomic GUI enhancements and expanded instrument coverage initiatives - such as the growth in fixed income derivatives and the recent launch of a new swaptions module.