A six-nation Arab stock exchange is to be set up next year in Cairo, the director of Egypt's bourse, Mohamed Abdel Salam, said on Monday. "Trades on the Arab bourse should start early in 2005 although we have not yet got a precise opening date," he told AFP.
One currency - either the euro or the dollar - would be used for all trades, although which one has yet to be decided, he added.
The stock exchanges of Egypt, Tunisia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan and Oman had all decided to take part in the exchange while the region's major stock exchange, Saudi Arabia, had not said whether it would.
"We are expecting that all the Arab exchanges will associate themselves with the new one," Abdel Salam said.
"We have defined the rules of operation - rules governing quotations of prices, rules of admission for brokerage companies, transactions via the internet, compensation and adjudication systems."