Currently, a suspension will be effected on the trading of the securities of a listed company where a material announcement is released before or during trading hours and the suspension imposed will last for the rest of the day for dissemination of the information. With the implementation of trading halt, the securities of the listed company will only be suspended for a maximum period of one trading session.

Selvarany Rasiah, Chief Legal Officer of Bursa Malaysia Berhad, said that trading halt will enhance market efficiency by ensuring trading interruption is kept to a minimum whilst ensuring that sufficient dissemination is made to the market.

She added that the shortened suspension period arising from the introduction of trading halt will not only benefit listed companies but also facilitate greater opportunities for the investors to trade in securities.

A new Practice Note and Guidance Note are issued to incorporate the salient features of the trading halt on the type of material announcement that may warrant a trading halt and the duration of the trading halt that may be imposed are as follows :-

• One trading session where the material announcement is released before 9.00 a.m. , between 1.00 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. or after 6.30 p.m; and
  
• The remaining period of the particular trading session where the material announcement is released during trading hours.

However, there will be a window period during the session break which is between 12.30 p.m. to 1.00 p.m. where material announcements released during the window period will not result in a trading halt.

Notwithstanding the implementation of trading halt, Bursa Securities may suspend the trading of a listed company's securities for the rest of the day or such other period if it deems necessary and appropriate to enable sufficient dissemination of material announcements.

Similar to the current practice for suspension, a listing circular will be issued by Bursa Securities to inform the market on the imposition of trading halt on a particular security.

The amendments will take effect from 3 September 2007.

The complete text of the amendments is available for reference along with a set of Questions and Answers to illustrate how the trading halt operates on Bursa Malaysia's website at www.bursamalaysia.com.