Stock Market Trade Slides

08-Sep-09

Stock Market Trade Slides

08-Sep-09

Tuesday, 8 September, 2009
IWPR

IWPR

Institute for War & Peace Reporting

Trade on the newly-established Syrian stock market continue to fall, the pro-government website Syria News Station said in a September 2 report.



The website said that trade slid to seven million Syrian pounds (about 15,000 US dollars) in the September 2 session. Recent trading has been as high as 24.7 million pounds.



The Damascus Securities Exchange (DSE) was inaugurated in March this year as part of a government effort to move the country from a state-controlled economy to a market-oriented one.



The pro-government website Syria Steps quoted stock exchange officials as saying market trade was expected to remain low.



The number of companies listed on the stock market remains low because many family businesses were still not convinced of the value of going public, especially since they would have to pay higher taxes, the website said.



Ali Zaatari, manager of the Arab Bank in Syria, told the website that the supply of shares at the stock market was much lower than the demand.



Zaatari said another reason behind the mediocre takeoff of the DSE was that Syrian society was not well informed about stock markets.
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