22 - 28 March 2001
Issue No.526
|
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 22 - 28 March 2001 Issue No.526 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
A modernised bourse
ALMOST a century after the first trading day ever in the history of the Egyptian stock market, Egypt's business elite and high-profile officials witnessed on Saturday the inauguration of the completely restructured headquarters and trading floor of the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange on Al-Sherifein Street in downtown Cairo.
The very unique French-styled neighbourhood of the bourse, now characterised by white-painted buildings, black street lamps and green trees, is no less magnificent than the inner decoration of the exchange, which has retained its century-old, dignified colonnade architectural design created by the French George Parque in 1903. The historical building has now been given a state-of-the-art trading floor, which has tested and will be officially launched on 1 April. The floor is equipped with 150 giant monitors and all the needed communication infrastructure, such as fixed phone and fax lines. The monitors display instant information on the movements of traded companies, as well as the market's indices. They will also provide a cutting-edge surveillance system, which will monitor the movements of shares and the activities of traders.
The new trading system -- provided by the Canadian company, EFA -- is order-driven like the previous one. The difference is that it can process a far greater number of transactions in much less time. In addition, traders on the floor can follow global financial market developments through four international business news channels showing on the floor during trading hours.
Designed to cope with the different kinds of traded stocks, whether centrally deposited or physically traded, the system also has clearance facilities if required.
The new floor is linked to an advanced communication network that keeps it connected to brokerage companies, the bourse's local branches all across Egypt's governorates and other regional and international equity markets adopting the same trading system. It is also equipped to deal with new types of securities that have not so far been traded on the local market, such as derivatives and options. The stock exchange has trained more than 350 brokers on the use of the new system.
The renovated premise has also been supplied with a backup power generator to hedge against unexpected power cuts.
The bourse's modernisation efforts fall in line with a wider reorganisation programme adopted by the exchange since the beginning of 1998. The programme includes the introduction of new trading rules, new membership regulations for the brokerages, a public awareness campaign and training programmes for market participants designed by the American Harvard Law School.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page