Statistics for Portugal compiled in the framework of the Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity – Turnover in April 2010 (1)

In April 2010, under the coordination of the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), 53 central banks and monetary authorities worldwide participated in the Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity. As in the previous five surveys, the 2010 survey covered data on the foreign exchange market (spot transactions, outright forwards, foreign exchange swaps, currency swaps and currency options) and interest rate derivatives (forward rate agreements, interest rate swaps and interest rate options), including only transactions held in over-the-counter (OTC) markets.

The survey in Portugal reached seventy-five financial institutions which virtually represent the entire Portuguese financial market.
 
The main results are presented below. The figures are expressed in US dollars (USD) and in terms of average daily turnover (2). There is an annex with a set of tables containing the essential of the collected data. This statistical information will be published in the chapter “D.2 Foreign exchange and derivatives market activity” of the Statistical Bulletin.

Foreign Exchange Market

In the foreign exchange market, the average daily turnover in April 2010 was USD 3.7 billion, the same level as in 2007 (see graph 1 and table 1). Turnover in the traditional foreign exchange market (3) accounted for USD 3.5 billion of this total. The foreign exchange swaps were the most actively traded product, representing 54% of transactions in this market (33% in 2007). Spot operations accounted for only 29% of total turnover in this month, whereas in 2007 this instrument’s share was of 41%. These developments reveal a change in the instrument structure of the foreign exchange market, with a reduction in the weight of spot operations and an increase in the market share of foreign exchange swaps. The remaining activity was distributed between transactions with outright forwards (14%) and foreign exchange options (3%).

In the foreign exchange market, since each transaction involves two currencies, the weight of individual currencies sums up to 200 percent of the total reported turnover. In this context, the US dollar was the most negotiated currency, accounting for 79% of transactions (see graph 2 and table 2). The euro became the second most actively traded currency (with a share of 66%) whereas in 2007 it was the primary currency (77% of total transactions). The item “Other currencies” in 2010 exhibited a market share of 25% owing to the Brazilian real which accounted for 12% of total transactions, outweighing the Pound sterling and the Japanese yen, whose shares were 11% and 7%, respectively.

The euro/US dollar was the most traded currency pair, accounting for 46% of total transactions (see table 3). This pair was particularly relevant in spot transactions and in foreign exchange swaps operations with shares of 69% and 44% in each of these market segments.
Financial institutions (4) were the counterparty of most transactions, contributing for 89% of total turnover (see table 4).alike 2007.

Interest Rate Derivatives

In the OTC interest rate market, the average daily turnover declined slightly from USD 0.8 billion in 2007 to USD 0.7 billion in 2010. The interest rate swaps continued to be the most traded instrument, accounting for 88% of trading activity (see graph 3 and table 1). Options turnover suffered a setback, decreasing from 19% in 2007 to 11% in 2010. The downward trend in this instrument conditioned the development of the interest rate market. Forward rate agreements remained as less significant, contributing for only 1% of the activity in this market.

With a weight of 89%, the relative importance of transactions dealing with euro interest rates was almost unchanged when compared to 2007 (see graph 4 and table 5). The US dollar interest rates’ market share diminished from 9% in 2007 to about 6% in 2010. Although in 2007 there were no transactions involving GBP interest rates, in 2010 this currency accounted for 4% of the activity in this market.