Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) announced the extension of the closing auction session to 20 minutes instead of 10 minutes on Tuesday, 27 August.

Moreover, the trade at last session will be extended to 20 minutes instead of 10 minutes, according to Tadawul’s recent statement.

The one-day extensions come ahead of the second and final tranche inclusion in MSCI as an Emerging Market effective Wednesday, 28 August, based on the closing prices of 27 August.

Earlier in August, Tadawul announced that it will start the second and last phase of MSCI inclusion on 28 August.

The inclusion will increase the weight of Saudi Arabian securities from 1.45% to 2.83% in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (MSCI EM Index).

In June, Moody's Investors Service said that the inclusion of Tadawul in the MSCI index will have a positive impact on its future investments.

The rating agency noted that the addition to the MSCI EM Index will increase the liquidity and trading volume of Saudi equities in the index, in addition to attracting foreign investments.

“We estimate that about $30-$40 billion will flow into the Saudi stock market because asset managers and institutional investors following this benchmark will rebalance their portfolios to minimise their tracking error,” the rating agency highlighted.