MSX amends trading mechanism in Follow-up Market

Muscat: The Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) announced that starting from the trading session on Sunday the trading mechanism of the Follow-up Market has been modified.
The number of sessions for executing opposite orders has been increased to five sessions per day instead of the two sessions currently in force.

The Follow-up Market includes companies and funds that have capital erosion of 25 per cent or more, or those that have decided to be dissolved or liquidated, as well as companies that have decided to change their legal form.

Munadil bin Hammad Al Ghafri, Head of the First Trading Operations Department at the MSX, said: The reason for such a move was to provide additional space for investors who trade in securities listed in the Follow-up Market, noting that the MSX is working on evaluating its activity and studying ways that enable it to improve the services provided to the investors.

He added that MSX seeks, by amending the trading mechanism in the Follow-up Market, to activate the trading movement which will contribute to reducing the time for executing opposite orders, which will enhance the pricing of shares of listed companies and create investment opportunities for investors wishing to deal in securities listed in this market.
He explained that the mechanism currently used in the Follow-up Market was for investors to enter their orders in two sessions; the first session started at 9am until 12 noon and the second session is between 12 noon and 2pm.

Noting that the new amendment will enable investors to enter their orders into the system during five sessions extending from 9am until 2pm. The first session for executing orders begins at 10am, and immediately after that, the second session of entering orders begins until the last execution session ends at 2pm.

It is noteworthy that the price limits for the rise and fall of the securities listed in the follow-up market reach 100 per cent of the closing price, to differ from the price limits of the rest of the markets that have been set at 10 per cent, except in exceptional cases.

It should be noted that the securities listed on the MSX fall under six markets: the Regular Market, the Parallel Market, the Follow-up Market, the Bonds and Sukuk market, the Under Monitoring Market, in addition to the third market, which includes closed joint stock companies.