Shafaq News - Baghdad

The Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) recorded a sharp surge in trading activity last week, with share transactions exceeding 18.5 billion dinars (about $14 million), according to an exchange report released Sunday.

A total of 64 listed companies traded during the week, while 30 firms saw no activity due to mismatched buy and sell orders. Trading for 10 companies remains suspended over disclosure failures, out of 104 firms listed on the exchange.

The ISX reported that 16.17 billion shares changed hands, a 405% increase from the previous week. The total value of traded shares climbed 345%, reaching 18.56 billion dinars across 4,536 transactions.

Despite the surge in trading, the benchmark ISX60 Index fell 5.97%, closing at 896.00 points.

Foreign investors bought 29 million shares worth 69 million dinars through 49 trades, while selling 8 billion shares valued at 8 billion dinars across 193 transactions.

The ISX holds five trading sessions weekly, from Sunday to Thursday, covering 104 Iraqi joint-stock companies across banking, telecom, industry, agriculture, insurance, finance, tourism, hospitality, and services sectors.