YEREVAN, September 16. /ARKA./ Members of NASDAQ OMX Armenia have been ignoring the stock exchange for carrying out foreign exchange transactions, preferring over the counter (OTC) deals, Konstantin Saroyan, the director of the exchange, said in an interview with ARKA news agency.
In 2015, the Armenian Stock Exchange saw a dramatic drop in foreign exchange transactions. The tendency has continued into this year as well. Foreign exchange transactions have not been carried out for months.
“In fact, foreign currency transactions are carried out, but they are over the so-called the counter transactions. This means a restructuring of the market, with exchange members preferring to carry out transactions outside the exchange,” Saroyan said.
He said they could not understand the reasons behind that change. “We are talking to them (exchange members) trying to find solutions to the current situation”, he said.
According to Saroyan, the OTC platform, which has been launched earlier this year, provides market participants with a technological opportunity to carry out two-way ’out off exchange’ trade transactions with preliminary deposition without fixed rules, which are obligatory at the exchange market.
Saroyan said also the T + N transactions (transactions with deferred execution), which were expected to be launched earlier this year are still being discussed with market participants.
The amount of transactions with in US dollars at NASDAQ OMX Armenia in 2015 slashed by 58% to a total of $ 12.5 million. The number of transactions fell from 4,696 in 2014 to 2,036.
In the first half of 2016 only 35 transactions were effected with USD worth $3.85 million, down from 1,156 transactions worth $181.59 million in the first half of last year. No transaction has been effected at the exchange for four months already. The latest one worth $100,000 was carried out on May 17, when the greenback traded at 477.75 drams. -0-
