The Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX), formerly the Baghdad Stock Exchange, is a

stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for t ...

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. It was established by the

Coalition Provisional Authority ) , capital = Baghdad , largest_city = capital , common_languages = Arabic Kurdish English (''de facto'') , government_type = Transitional government , legislature = Iraqi Governing Council , title_leader = Administrator , leader1 = Ja ...

(CPA) Order No. 74 as a ''

sui generis ''Sui generis'' ( , ) is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind", "in a class by itself", therefore "unique". A number of disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. These include: * Biology, for species that do not fit in ...

'' independent

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

on April 18, 2004. This order also created the Iraq Securities Commission and an Iraq

Depositary In international law, a depositary is a government or organization to which a multilateral treaty is entrusted. The principal functions of a depositary are codified in Article 77 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Belgium Belgium's M ...

. The stock exchange was part of the development of the country from a non-transparent centrally planned economy to a free market economy through a dynamic private sector. The Iraq Stock Exchange was incorporated and began operations on June 24, 2004. It operates under the oversight of the Iraq Securities Commission, an independent commission modeled after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This body, which supervises the Board of Governors, initially served as the bridge between the country's previous state-owned stock exchange and the new independent exchange. June Reed is an American adviser to the stock exchange.

Background

Before the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...

, the country's stock exchange was called the Baghdad Stock Exchange and was operated by the Iraqi Ministry of Finance. Now it is a

self-regulated organization A self-regulatory organization (SRO) is an organization that exercises some degree of regulatory authority over an industry or profession. The regulatory authority could exist in place of government regulation, or applied in addition to governmen ...

similar to the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...

, owned by the 50 or so member

brokerage A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be con ...

s. As of 2005, the ISX was Iraq's only stock exchange. It opened in 2004 with 15 companies, and now lists more than 100 companies. Turnover of shares in 2005 was approximately $5 million USD per trading session. Major stocks included Bank of Baghdad, Baghdad Soft Drinks Co, Iraqi Tufted Carpets Co, Hader Marble, and Altherar Agriculture.

Aswat al-Iraq Aswat al-Iraq (in Arabic اصوات العراق, Kurdish ئه‌سوات ئه‌لعیراق) is an independent national news agency in Iraq, established in 2004. Funded by the United Nations Development Program, and with assistance from the R ...

news agency covers every trading session with reports published on the web in English and Arabic.

Growth

Originally, trading was with pen and paper. Buyers shouted at or called into their brokers, who stood near their

whiteboard A whiteboard (also known by the terms marker board, dry-erase board, dry-wipe board, and pen-board) is a glossy, usually white surface for making non-permanent markings. Whiteboards are analogous to blackboards, but with a smoother surface all ...

s that listed each company's share buy and sell price. Trading was suspended for several months in 2006 due to violence, and is subject to

power outage A power outage (also called a powercut, a power out, a power failure, a power blackout, a power loss, or a blackout) is the loss of the electrical power network supply to an end user. There are many causes of power failures in an electricity ...

s. In 2006, 92 trading sessions were held (an average of 2 per week), 57 billion shares were traded (at a value of 146 billion

dinar The dinar () is the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, and its historical use is even more widespread. The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin ...

s), and 38,000 trades were consummated. The trading floor is currently open six hours a week: Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The ISX opened to foreign investors on August 2, 2007. It has been unaffected by the

Economic crisis of 2008 The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

. On April 19, 2009, the ISX switched to electronic trading. Currently, only five companies are available for electronic trading, but more will be added over the next few months. In the first quarter of 2018, the ISX became one of the world's top performers due to the influx of investors encouraged by the defeat of the Islamic state. Companies listed on the market increased by 10 percent, anticipating economic recovery due to recent developments. This is particularly notable since the performance defied the violent swings experienced by global markets in the same period. The ISX, however, still faces a number of challenges, which include political instability as demonstrated by the 7 percent loss in value during the May election, sporadic conflicts, and the

price of oil The price of oil, or the oil price, generally refers to the spot price of a barrel () of benchmark crude oil—a reference price for buyers and sellers of crude oil such as West Texas Intermediate (WTI), Brent Crude, Dubai Crude, OPEC ...

, among other economic grievances. The Iraq stock Exchange is a member of the

Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges The Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS) is a non-profit international organization comprising the main stock exchanges in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. The purpose of the Federation is to contribute to the cooperat ...

References

External links

Iraq Stock Exchange Guide

Official Iraq Stock Exchange homepage

IraqiXchange – Iraqi Market Research
{{Iraq topics Stock exchanges in the Middle East Economy of Iraq Stock exchanges in Asia Companies of Iraq Organizations based in Baghdad

Background

Growth

See also

References

External links