On the sidelines of a conference, Managing Director of MCX said that gold options will be unveiled in September end. He said "We have already conducted mock drills". A senior company official said that the move shall enable small players to hedge their risk through the options availability in the bullion segment.

The launch of the gold options is scheduled after a nod of the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The players in the bullions segment see it as a positive move for the jewelers who can now hedge their risk involved without having to worry for the daily changes in price of bullion.

The market watchdog, SEBI, allowed hedge funds categorized as AIFs or alternative investment funds for investing in commodity derivatives opening the doors for the first time for institutional investors.

The hedge fund as well as gold options shall see the turnover of the exchange increase tremendously.

Harmony Hedge Fund has started trading on the MCX platform and another 35 hedge funds have approached the exchange for admission, Paranjape said.

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