Investors keen on new index futures

SHANGHAI: The new kid on the futures block seems to have got off to a great start, going by the early responses from investors.

For many like Yao Shanliang, a 63-year-old retired metal trader, the opportunity to trade in stock index futures was something that they did wish to slip out of their hands. Yao drove two hours from his home in Zhangjiagang in Jiangsu province to Shanghai yesterday to be one of the first investors to register for trading in index futures.

"I've waited for three years for this opportunity," he said. Yao first heard of the government proposal for the China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX) in 2008.