Definitions Syrian Arab Republic Damascus Securities Exchange Resolution No /324/ The Board of Directors of the Damascus Securities Exchange (hereinafter the Board), pursuant to the provisions of Law 22 of 2005; the provisions of the Stock Exchange Law 55 of 2006, particularly paragraph b of Article 10; the Board proposal in its session No. 99 dated 02/03/2009; and the endorsement of the Council of Commissioners in its session No.15 dated 02/03/2009, Decrees the following: DSE Trading Instructions Article (1): While applying the provisions of these rules, the following words and terms shall have the meanings stated next to each: Commission: The Syrian Commission on Financial Markets and Securities established by virtue of Law 22 of 2005. The Chairman of the Board: The Chairman of the Board of Commissioners the Chief Executive of the Commission. Exchange: Damascus Securities Exchange (DSE). Board: Board of the Exchange. The Chief Executive Officer: The Chief Executive Officer of the Exchange. Securities: 1. Tradable shares of Syrian stock companies. 2. Tradable debt instruments issued by Syrian stock companies. 3. Tradable public debt instruments issued by the Syrian government. 4. Investment instruments issued by investment funds and companies. 5. Any other Syrian or foreign commonly accepted securities, recognized by the Council. Trading: Buying and selling the securities through the exchange. Trading System: The technical trading systems operated by the Exchange. Trading Hours: The trading hours on Business Days, as determined by the Exchange. Broker: A legal person with Syrian nationality licensed by the Commission to operate as a broker or dealer undertaking business for his own account. Agent: A natural person employed by a Broker and authorized administratively and technically by the Commission to undertake business on behalf of the Broker. Broker s Connected Parties: Are the Broker s board members, his managing directors and all of his staff. Buy Order: An Order placed on the Trading System with specified terms to buy a specific amount of a security at a specific price, and to be executed at a range of prices up to the specified price. Sell Order: An Order placed on the Trading System with specified terms to sell a specific amount of a security at a specific price, and to be executed at a range of prices up to the specified price. Trade: is a match between a Buy Order and a Sell Order on a specific Security. 1
Tradable Securities: Securities admitted to listing at the Exchange and deposited at the Clearing and Central Depositary Center to be traded at the Exchange. Center: Clearing and Central Depositary Center. Reference Price: The price that serves in calculating the static limits of the security. Open Price: the price of the first executed trade in the trading session. Close price: Is the volume-weighted arithmetic mean of the prices of exchange trades executed on each Security durring a given trading day. Counter Order: the counter order is: - The Buy Order if the order placed on the Trading System is a Sell Order. - The Sell Order if the order placed on the Trading System is a Buy Order. Notice: Any written communication, labeled Notice, issued by the Exchange to Brokers or Issuers generally or to any class of Broker or Issuers for the purpose of interpreting or implementing the Rules or any other purpose contemplated in these Rules. THE SCOPE OF TRADING INSTRUCTIONS: Article (2): The following Trading Instructions shall be applied on those who are dealing with the listed Securities in the Exchange. EXCUTION OF TRADING SESESSIONS: The trading session shall be as follow: Article (3): Pre-Opening Session: a. Orders can be entered in to the Trading System at this session, Trade execution is not possible, orders will be prioritized in compliance with the Trading Rules issued by the Exchange, and the Open Price of each security shall form. b. The Open Price shall be calculated in the following manner: 1. The price which achieves the highest executable order volume of the Participant orders placed on the Trading System. 2. If the highest Executable order volume was achieved on more than one price, the Open Price shall be the Price that achieves the lowest non-executable order volume from those prices. 3. If the lowest non-executable order volume was achieved on more than one order price placed on both bid and ask side, the Open price will be the simple arithmetic average between those prices. 4. If the lowest non-executable order volume was achieved on more than one order price placed on the same side (bid or ask). The Open price will be the lower price, if both of the order prices were on the ask side, or the higher price, if both of the order prices were on the bid side. c. Should No orders be matched in the preopening session, the Open Price shall be the price of the first executed Trade in the continuace trading session. Article (4): Opening Session: 2
It comes within a random delay of approximately 5 minutes. Trades from the preopening session will be executed at the Open Price. Article (5): Continuace Session: a. Comes right after the opening session, non-executed orders from the pre-opening session shall be shown and new orders can be entered into the Trading System. Order management is possible. Trades shall be executed once orders are matched according to the procedures stimulated by these instructions and specified in the user guide and according to the order sequence mentioned in the Trading Rules. b. During the continuace session the following prices shall be calculated: 1. The Average Price: Is the volume-weighted arithmetic mean of the prices of exchange trades executed till a given moment in a Security on a given trading day. 2. The Reference Price: Is the last official Close Price of the Security. Article (6): Block Trades Session: Article (7): Closing Session: Comes after the continuace session, lasts for fifteen minutes, and allows only for block trades to be executed in compliance with these Instructions. a. Information and reports of the trading day shall be shown and printed, order entry, modification or cancellation is not allowed in this session, and the Close Price shall form. b. Should no Trades be executed on a given day, the official average price, the Close Price and Reference Price shall be the same prices of the previous trading day. c. The trading report shall be sent to the Center for the purposes of clearing and settlement. Article (8): The trading hours on Business Days shall be determined by the Board, by the publication of a Notice and after notifying the Commission. TYPES OF ORDERS: Article (9): a. According to Order Nature: 1. Sell Order: An Order placed on the Trading System with specified terms to sell a specific amount of a Security at a specific price, and to be executed at a range of prices up to the specified price. 2. Buy Order: An Order placed on the Trading System with specified terms to buy a specific amount of a Security at a specific price, and to be executed at a range of prices up to the specified price. 3. Cross Order: An Order placed on the Trading System by the same Broker contains both a Buy Order and a Sell Order at the same Security with a specific 3
quantity and price. The quantity and price of the Buy Order equals the quantity and price of the Sell Order. b. According to price: 1. Limit Order: An Order placed on the Trading System with a defined price to be executed at a price that doesn t exceed it in Buy Orders, and not lower than it in Sell Orders. 2. Market Order: An Order placed on the Trading System to be executed with the series of prices at the opposite side. c. According to time-in-force: 1. Day Order: valid only on the day of entry; the Trading System shall automatically remove non-executed day orders upon closure and prior to the beginning of the next trading day. 2. Open Order: valid until it is executed on the order book or removed by the Broker who entered it. An open order shall be valid up to thirty (30) calendar days from the date of entry, or from the last order change. 3. Good till Cancelled (GTC) Order: valid from the moment of entry until it is executed on the order book or until a specified date. 4. Fill and Kill Order: enables the purchase or sale of a Security at a range of prices up to the specified limit, whereby the portion not executed is deleted from the Trading System. d. According to quantity: 1. All or None (AON) Order: An order that may only be executed in full with the prioritized orders on the opposite side up to the specified price, either in one or in several Trades simultaneously. 2. Iceberg Order: An order not displaying the full order quantity on the order book. The order book only displays the visible portion of the order, with the remainder being stored as the hidden order quantity not visible on the order book. Additional term of fill and kill is not applicable. The minimum value of iceberg orders is (750000) seven hundred fifty thousand Syrian Pounds. 3. Minimum Quantity Order: An order from which Trades are executed with an Opposite Order exclusively in the quantity equal to or exceeding the minimum quantity specified in the order. The minimum value of minimum quantity order is (250000) two hundred fifty thousand Syrian Pounds. TEMPORARY SUSPENSIONS OF TRADING: Article (10): a. The Chief Executive Officer can temporary suspend or halt trading on a Security for approximately 30 minutes, and inform the Commission, in the following events: 1. Disclosures concerning general assembling in the related company. 2. In cases of the announcement of corporate action. 4
3. In cases of unusual circumstances and material events which may affect the price of the Security. 4. Any other circumstances that aims to protect the investors. b. If the temporary suspension was required for more than 30 minutes, an approval must be acquired from The Chairman of the Board. Article (11): In provision of Article (10) In the case of material disclosure on a specific Security within the Trading Hours, the following procedures shall take place: a. The Trading on the Security shall be temporary suspended for a short period of time specified in a Notice issued by the Exchange. b. After the end of the temporary suspension mentioned above the Security shall be halted for a short period of time specified in a Notice issued by the Exchange. Mean while order management is possible, Trade execution is not possible. c. Trading on the Security shall be resumed after the end of the halt mentioned above. Article (12): while the Security is in the temporary suspension period, order matching, order management is not permitted. Article (13): Orders which were placed in the Trading System prior to the temporary suspension or the halt of the Security will be automatically deleted by the Exchange if necessary from the Trading System prior to the resumption of Trading. SEQUANCE Of ORDERS: Article (14): Agents must enter the clients' orders into the Trading System according to receiving time. If an order was received during the trading session, the Agent must enter the order into the Trading System as soon as possible approximately within 10 minutes from the time of receiving the order from the client or from the Broker's back office. In the case of a complaint or a disagreement concerning a delay in entering an order into the Trading System, the Exchange shall decide whether there was a delay or not. Article (15): The Broker and all of his connected parties shall not use clients' orders by any mean for their own benefit or for the benefit of any other party. Article (16): If an order was partially executed, the non-executed portion of the order will be displayed at the same price; unless the Broker changed the price of the non-executed portion, when the order type allow such change. Article (17): Should an order match with different prices of Counter Orders, the order will be executed gradually, with intermediate confirmations before executing on a different price. Should the executer refuses to execute the order on the new price the Trading System will automatically delete the non-executed portion of the order from the order book. Article (18): All incidents of conflict of interests between the Broker s portfolio and his clients accounts, or conflict of interests between the Broker s connected parties personal 5
accounts and his clients accounts must be dealt with as specified in the Regulation for Dealing between Financial Brokers and Their Clients issued by the Commission. MODIFICATION OF ORDERS: Article (19): the Trading System shall designate the order with a new time stamp in the following events: a. When the price is changed; b. If a special term is changed, or removed c. If a special term is added; d. If the visible volume increase. TICK SIZE: Article (20): The size of a tick for Tradable Securities will be defined by the price of the Security as follow: SECURITY PRICE (SYP) TICK SIZE FROM TO (SYP) ٢٥ ٤٩٩ ٠ ٢٥ ٥٠٠ ٩٩٩ ٠ ٥٠ ١٠٠٠ ٢٤٩٩ ١ ٢٥٠٠ And above ٥ BLOCK TRADES: Article (21): Block trades will take place between the Brokers who intend to execute the block trade on behalf of their clients by presenting the Exchange with the hand signed authorizations from their clients in addition to a notification of ownership from the Center illustrates that the shares to be traded are free float; The documents must be presented to the market control in a time No later than fifteen minutes before the end of the Continuace Session. Article (22): a. The minimum value of block trade is (10,000,000) ten million Syrian Pounds. The Exchange shall have the right to declare such trades in an appropriate manner. b. The price of the concluded block trade shall not be calculated in the daily Average price. c. The Board may revise the minimum value of block trades by the issuance of a Notice. Article (23): Ownership transfers of the Securities shall be concluded by the Center; while the monetary transfers of the block trades shall be carried out between the executing Brokers 6
and their related clients not by the Exchange or the Center. Neither the Exchange nor the Center shall have any responsibilities towards the monetary transfers. Article (24): The commissions of the Commission, the Exchange and the Center on the executed block trades shall be calculated from the execution price or the daily average price of the security which is higher. Article (25): The Broker s commissions on block trades shall not comply with the limits specified in DSE Financial Service Companies Commissions Regulation issued by the Exchange, but shouldn t be lower than (0.0002) from the total value of the block trade. MODIFICATIONS OF EXECUTED EXCHANGE TRADES: Article (26): All Exchange trades are final and can t be altered or canceled except in compliance with effective rules and regulations, and according to the procedures stipulated by these instructions. Article (27): The Broker may apply to modify an exchange trade concluded due to an error in the investor s account number, by filing the approved application of trade modification. The application must be presented to the Exchange in the same day of committing the Error. The Exchange shall have full authority to accept or reject modifying the account number. Article (28): The Broker having applied to modify a Trade shall provide the Exchange with a copy of the authorizations of the orders to be modified. Article (29): The Chief Executive Officer may cancel any trade concluded incompatible with the Effective laws, rules, instruction and regulations without the approval of the related parties and the Exchange shall still collect the commissions of the Commission, The Exchange and the Center on these trades. TRADING REPORT: Article (30): At the end of each Trading Day the Exchange shall send the initial trading report to the Center for the purposes of clearing and settlement. The initial trading report contains all executed trades in the Trading Day before applying any modifications. Article (31): The Exchange shall send the final trading report to the Brokers after receiving it from the Center and applying the required modifications in compliance with these instructions. Article (32): The trading report contains all executed Trades the Broker was involved in during the Trading Day with the following information: 1. quantity of shares in which the Trades were executed; 2. The execution prices; 3. The value and execution time of each Trade; 4. The involved account numbers; 5. The name of each Broker and his executors and transaction type. 6. 7
GENERAL TRADING INSTRUCTIONS: Article (33): The size of a lot is one Security; The Board may revise the size of a lot by the issuance of a Notice. Article (34): The Broker shall not act on behalf of a client before signing an agreement with the client, contains the following information: Article (35): 1. Name and address of the Broker and the client; 2. The services to be provided by the Broker to the client; 3. The Broker s commissions on each service provided to the customer considering the permitted limits; 4. Types of order authorizations given by client to the Broker; 5. Declaration of Securities investment risks; 6. Client s signature and Broker signature & company stamp; 7. Manner of resolving any arising Disputes; 8. The requirements stipulated by Regulation for Dealing between Financial Brokers and Their Clients issued by the Commission. a. Should a Security be demand on the limit up and no orders were placed on the other side of the order book, and the orders stayed on the Trading System in the next trading day, then the limit down price shall become the Reference Price and the limits will be recalculated according to the new Reference Price. b. Should a Security be offered on the limit down, and no orders were placed on the other side of the order book, and the orders stayed on the Trading System in the next trading day, then the limit up price shall become the Reference Price and the limits will be recalculated according to the new Reference Price, if following terms were matched: 1. If no trades were concluded on the security effecting reference price for three trading sessions in row. 2. If the orders placed on the system belongs to ten investors at least who don t relate to the issuing company or the Brokers. Article (36): The Exchange may cancel any orders places on the Trading System outside the interval limits. Article (37): Should a Broker be suspended from Trading for any reason, all orders entered through him into the Trading System shall be canceled. Article (38): Orders shall be entered by Agents only through the Broker whom they work for, Should an Agent access to the Trading System fail, the Agent shall reconnect to the Trading System through the terminals provided in the trading floor. Article (39): Trading shall be suspended on the Security in the days of regular and irregular general assemblies. 8
Article (40): The Broker shall not act on behalf of a client, unless he meets the minimum required information by the Commission stipulated in Regulation for Dealing between Financial Brokers and Their Clients. Article (41): The Exchange may modify the Reference Price of a Security and inform the Commission in the following events: 1. After dividends; 2. In the cases of corporate actions as specified in the procedures issued by the Exchange; 3. Any other events when necessary after the approval of the Commission. Article (42): The Board may publish all required decisions for any unmentioned matters in these Instructions. 9