ASIA'S second-largest listed bourse, the Singapore Exchange (SGX), will launch contracts for gold, fuel oil and coffee in the first quarter of next year, as the firm sees interest in commodities trading driving growth.

Newly-appointed chief executive Magnus Bocker said that the exchange will continue its focus in improving its technology and a derivatives clearing engine will be launched on Monday.

"Come the first quarter of next year, we will be launching the fuel-oil 380-CST futures, and the Singapore Commodity Exchange (Sicom) will be expanding its product base to include oil, coffee and the clearing of over-the-counter rubber contracts," the 47-year-old said at a derivatives conference.

SGX runs Sicom and said earlier this year that future growth would be driven by new commodities contracts.

Gold prices hit record highs above US$1,220 (S$1,683.10) an ounce yesterday as the precious metal attracted investors looking for an alternative to the US dollar.

Rival Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX), which on Tuesday won in-principle regulatory clearance from Singapore's central bank, will also provide a trading platform in the city-state for commodities including precious and base metals, agricultural commodities, currencies and commodity indices.

London futures are the benchmark for robusta coffee, of which Vietnam is the world's largest producer.

Mr Bocker said that SGX's investment in technology has paid off, with the number of hedge funds and technology-based traders that relied on computerised trading doubling in the past year.

The former president of Nasdaq OMX took over as SGX CEO on Tuesday, replacing Mr Hsieh Fu Hua, who is returning to PrimePartners, the boutique investment firm he co-founded, after 6½ years at the helm of the Singapore bourse operator.

Mr Bocker acknowledged that SGX has lost out to rival Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing (HKEx) in the quest to attract big Chinese listings, but said that SGX had fared well compared to most other exchanges.

The outlook for Singapore IPOs has improved in recent weeks following the US$2-billion listing of Asia mall operator CapitaMalls.

Decent-sized IPOs in the SGX pipeline include those of China food company Minzhong and budget carrier Tiger Airways.