Last month, with the close of its first monthly internet diamond auction, broker and publisher of diamond prices, the Rapaport Group, took a first baby step toward its goal of forming a New York-based futures market. But while interest from financial institutions is there, diamond indices and diamond derivatives are still some way off.

The Rapaport Group wants to bring some clarity to the mysterious world of diamond pricing and trading by using price data from its new monthly spot cash internet auctions to form a cash-price index. From this, it hopes diamond-based cash-settled futures contracts could be developed.