Modest interest in evening trading

Modest interest in evening trading Stockholmsbörsen will not introduce evening business hours during 2002. Stockholmsbörsen has concluded that the demand is insufficient to enable smoothly functioning evening trading. Healthy trading liquidity is a prerequisite for operating a smoothly functioning and efficient marketplace. The assessment made by Stockholmsbörsen is that evening business hours would not give rise to the requisite liquidity in the current market climate. "Our objective is to always offer a smoothly functioning and sufficiently liquid marketplace. After assessing the opinions of Exchange Members, we have arrived at the conclusion that the current demand for trading during evening hours would not be sufficient to achieve satisfactory trading liquidity during those hours. In view of this, introducing evening business hours could damage the credibility of the entire market", says Claes Urban Dackberg, Product Area Manager Equity Products at Stockholmsbörsen. "This does not mean that we are completely abandoning our belief in extended business hours. We still believe that evening trading could prove attractive when demand reaches a level that is sufficient for offering satisfactory liquidity also during evening hours," Dackberg continues. Stockholmsbörsen engages in a continual dialog with Exchange Members, regarding such matters as business hours, to ensure that the marketplace remains as efficient as possible. Further information: Claes Urban Dackberg, Product Area Manager Equity +46 70 569 52 09 Products Maria Andark, Corporate Communication +46 70 597 52 76 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/06/20/20020620BIT00530/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/06/20/20020620BIT00530/wkr0002.pdf