RPT-New commodities bourse to open in Singapore

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SINGAPORE, July 9 (Reuters) - India's Financial Technologies Group unveiled on Wednesday plans to launch a new commodities exchange in Singapore early next year.

The new exchange, called the Singapore Mercantile Exchange, will provide a platform for futures and options trading on precious metals, base metals, energy, agricultural commodities, currency pairs, carbon credits and commodity indices.

"We expect Asia to lead the growth in the commodities markets in the next few years," the chairman of the advisory board of SMX, Leo Melamed, said in a press release.

"Market participants around the world will benefit from price discovery of these commodities in Asia. The SMX will be a barometer for the dynamic demand-supply fundamentals in this region." (Reporting by Nick Trevethan; Editing by Ben Tan)