As of Tuesday 18th April, the Malta Stock Exchange doubled its daily trading, from three hours to six hours. This was announced by Minister for Finance, Prof Edward Scicluna and Malta Stock Exchange Chairman, Joseph Portelli as they spoke to the press to mark the event.

Since its founding 25 years ago, the Malta Stock Exchange opened for trade for just three hours daily. The three-hour extension was implemented as part of the initiatives which the Malta Stock Exchange will be implementing as according the National Capital Markets Strategic Plan which it launched last October.

Minister Scicluna said that this extension encourages further trade and brings the Malta Stock Exchange in line with the standards applied by other European stock exchanges, thus complimenting government's efforts of establishing the Malta Stock Exchange as an attractive place to do business.

This newest initiative, Minister Scicluna said, comes just few days after the first two listings on the Small and Medium sized Enterprises on Prospects, a new market platform of the Malta Stock Exchange designed specifically for SMEs.