The Uganda Securities Exchange will move to a system of electronic equity buying and selling, ending open-outcry trading, where offers are written on a board on the bourse’s floor.
The Bourse expects to start electronic trading in July, Chief Executive Officer Paul Bwiso said to Bloomberg in an e-mailed on April 14. It will help increase trading volumes, boost foreign participation, open the way for other products and move equities dealing to three-day settlement from five, he said.
“Automation will enhance growth by increasing liquidity,” Bwiso said. It will also attract more initial public offerings and give the exchange the option of introducing new trading products, he said.
The bourse, which started operating in 1998, also trades government debt securities and bonds issued by companies. Last week at the bourse, traders said they were doing trials on the automated system at newly installed computers.
The USE’s all-share index of 16 stocks rose 7 percent in 2015 through Wednesday.
Uganda is Africa’s biggest coffee exporter and according to the International Monetary Fund, growth is set to outpace the sub-Saharan African average this year.
