The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong will provide an input service for its Members for off-system trades of tom.com limited (stock code: 8001) on Wednesday March 1, 2000 in order to relieve the pressure on brokers during the first 15 minutes of trading.

Instead of reporting off-system trades into the trading system, traders can report these trades to the Floor Office at the Trading Hall of the Exchange, by prescribed contract slips currently used with the attached summary sheet, before 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday March 1, 2000. Traders are encouraged to deliver the contract slips and the summary sheets to the Floor office as early as possible, starting from 8:30 a.m.

The Exchange will announce the total number of shares and turnover of the trades on the Exchange News section at around 10:15 a.m., and input the trades on behalf of Members into the Trade Repair System on T+1. The trades will be settled in CCASS, the Central Clearing and Settlement System, as usual, on T+2.

The Exchange anticipates that it may take longer than usual to execute trades in the company's shares during the early hours of trading on March 1, 2000 due to heavy trading.

Meanwhile, investors are advised to pre-arrange with their brokers, including having their securities accounts ready and signing the Risk Disclosure Statement, if they want to trade tom.com limited shares on its first trading day.

Corporate Communications