As the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) prepares to open up to direct foreign investment for the first time, Japanese investment bank Nomura has been authorised by the country’s Capital Markets Authority to offer indirect access to Saudi equities via p-notes.
Trading solutions provider QuantHouse is now providing co-location and DMA services within the recently opened CME Group colocation facility west of Chicago in Aurora, Illinois, allowing high-frequency trading firms to benefit from close proximity to the CME Globex matching engine, reduced latency and direct access to the exchange’s liquidity centre.
South Africa’s Johannesburg Stock Exchange is to benefit from a policy change by South Africa’s National Treasury that allows foreign domiciled companies to be included in domestic indices.
Poor capital market infrastructure and limited liquidity in African companies are larger concerns for institutional investors already investing in the continent than fears about bribery and corruption, a survey by Middle Eastern investment asset manager Invest AD along with the Economist Intelligence Unit has found.
The Saudi Stock Exchange – known as the Tadawul – is expected to open up to direct foreign investment later this year, as part of a reform agenda aimed at modernising the country’s securities markets.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange has established a point-of-presence (PoP) at a UK data centre with low-latency service provider Fixnetix, facilitating access to its bourse for non-domestic market participants.
Qatar's inability to improve foreign ownership limitations and continuing fears over how the UAE deals with failed trades have stopped index provider MSCI from upgrading the two countries to emerging markets status.