South Korea is mulling over launching a new product line-up of Chinese yuan Futures in a bid to enhance variety and trading opportunities in the nation's derivatives market, high-ranking official of the bourse operator said Tuesday.

"We are planning to launch the Chinese yuan futures, hopefully in 2011, and we have reached a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Chinese government," Jeon Young-joo, president of the Derivatives Market Division at the Korea Exchange (KRX), said at a press conference.

"Although the Chinese yuan is controlled under a government-managed float system, which may be an obstacle to be used as an underlying asset to derivatives, we've decided to adopt the currency to be used in our futures market," Jeon also said.

South Korea is also pushing ahead for stepping into carbon emission right trading, Jeon added, saying the KRX would be the best market to deal with the issue, equipped with suitable systems and abundant experiences.

According to Jeon, the carbon emission market has not been fully prepared, however, as details related to the issue, such as the responsible government bodies and related laws, have not been finalized.

The KRX, serving the role of South Korea's main bourse, was ranked top in 2009 in terms of trading volume, followed by Europe's Eurex and Chicago Mercantile Exchange of the United States, the KRX said in a report.

Late last week, the bourse operator said it will start trading 10 more single-stock futures in order to help investors better hedge against stock market fluctuations.

(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2009)