Iraq Stock Exchange volumes decreased 67% in July.

Iraq's struggle to form a government four months after the parliamentary elections has challenged Iraq's stock market, where volumes decreased by 67% in July.

According Tugba Tan Karakaya, analyst at research department of Rabee Securities: " Eid Al Adha holidays with the current political deadlock, and protests in Iraq, it is no wonder we witness weak trading volumes, as investors wait to see the outcome of all this. It may take a few more weeks to see which direction Iraq is heading.  Despite this bleak picture, we have seen an increase in foreigners trading which represented 16.6% in July compared to previous month".

Figures show that 35.5% of volume trading was related to the banking sector, followed by the telecom sector at 18.7%, then the industry sector, representing 17.0% of the total trades.