KRX launches gold trading platform for market transparency

A gold trading platform was launched in Korea on Monday to aid transparency, the local bourse operator KRX announced.

The country’s financial authorities revealed plans in 2013 to set up a gold trading platform in line with government efforts to bring the underground economy into the open and stamp out related tax evasion and illegal transactions.

According to the KRX, gold is traded on the exchange in 1 gram units to facilitate liquidity, and delivery is made in 1 kilogram bars.

Trading will be possible from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and there will be no transaction fees until April 2015.

Along with futures firms, securities firms, gold dealers, importers and wholesalers, local refiners approved by the authorities can register as members of the spot gold bourse and buy or sell spot gold in a similar way to stocks.

(tellme@heraldcorp.com)