The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX)will introduce on 4 March 2021a “Trade at Last” session, enabling investors to trade ADX-listed securities at their closing price during a 5-minute periodat the end of the trading day. The initiative is part of the exchange’s ‘ADX One’ strategy to widen the range of its services and products and increase market liquidity.
The mechanism, which is active between1.55pmand2pm, allows market participantsto adjust any imbalances they may have following the closing auction. Market makers and liquidity providers may use “Trade at Last” to net their positions and fund managers will benefit from being able to trade at prices used for their end-of-day published NAV (net asset value).
Mr. Abdullah Salem Al Neaimi, Acting Deputy Chief Executive of Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange said: “ADX’s role is to ensure a seamless connection between investors and issuers in a vibrant marketplace.We are rolling out a series of initiatives to enhance liquidity and make trading easy and convenient, in line with global best practice.The closing auction is a significant liquidity event in the trading cycle and Trade at Lastwill provide market participants with greater flexibility to achieve their tactical aims.”
In the next three years, ADX plans to growmarket capitalisationto more than AED1.5 billionthrough its new ‘ADX One’ strategy, which includes introducing new products and services and acceleratingdigital transformation to enhance the customer journey.
Liquidity on the ADX increased significantly in 2020, with the value of traded securities rising by 28% to AED72.8 billion. The number of foreign investors on ADX grew by 38% in 2020 while the value of shares they traded rose by 6.5% to AED 62.6 billion. The value of securities traded by institutions rose 35.6% to AED 111.1 billion last year. Also in 2020, the actual and active daily investors who executed trades on the exchange increased to 34% compared to the year before.
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