On  September  27, 2004, the Helsinki, Tallinn and Riga stock exchanges

will  harmonize their cash markets by adopting the SAXESS™ cash trading

system  already  used  by the Stockholm Stock Exchange, thus taking the

next  step  in  OMX's  vision  of  a  fully  integrated  Nordic  Baltic

securities market. 



The cash market integration will generate benefits for members, enhance

liquidity  and  promote  trading  in  Finnish and Baltic equities. As a

result  of  the  integration,  exchange members and investors will gain

easy  access  to  Finnish,  Swedish  and  Baltic securities through one

access  point  to the common trading system, and will also benefit from

harmonized rules.



The  harmonization  of cash markets is in line with the creation of one

Nordic Baltic market and includes benefits such as:

  * Harmonized  trading  hours  for  the  Helsinki  and Stockholm stock

    exchanges (09:00-17:30 CET).

  * Harmonized  trading  day  structure  through  the introduction of a

    closing call at the Helsinki, Tallinn and Riga stock exchanges.

  * Implementation  of  the  NOREX  Member  Rules at the Helsinki Stock

    Exchange  and  the  harmonization of the Tallinn and Riga rulebooks

    with NOREX Member Rules.

  * Introduction  of  a  Joint  Baltic  Market  with  jointly  marketed

    securities,  harmonized  listing rules between the Riga and Tallinn

    stock  exchanges  and  a  cross-border delivery-versus-payment link

    between the Estonian and Latvian CSDs.

  * BALTIX, the new pan-Baltic index.

  * RIGSE  and  VILSE, new capitalization-based total return indexes in

    Latvia and Lithuania.



Through a wider Nordic cooperation, the NOREX alliance, securities from

seven  exchanges  can  be  traded  on the same platform with harmonized

rules.  The  NOREX  alliance  is made up of the exchanges in Stockholm,

Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Copenhagen, Oslo and Iceland.



For more information, please contact:

In Finland 

Anu Ilvonen, Communications Manager, +358 9 6166 7599

In Estonia Tex Vertmann, Communications Manager, +372 640 8862

In Latvia Krista Grintale, Communications Manager, + 371 7212 431

In Sweden Annika Molander, Communications Manager + 46 8 405 6610



  Trading hours at OMX Exchanges as of September 27



In  conjunction  with  the  launch  of  the  SAXESS  trading  system in

Helsinki,  the  trading  hours of the equity and derivatives markets at

the  Stockholm  and  Helsinki  stock  exchanges will be harmonized. The

structure of the equity trading day will also be harmonized through the

introduction  of a closing call at the Helsinki, Tallinn and Riga stock

exchanges.  Due to decreased demand, the evening trading session at the

Helsinki Stock Exchange will be discontinued.

+-----------------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+-------------+

|Equities and other securities|Stockholm and Helsinki(CET)|Tallinn and Riga (CET)|Vilnius (CET)|

|Opening call                 |08:45-9:00                 |08:45-9:00            |08:25-08:30  |

|Opening prices               |09:00                      |09:00                 |08:55        |

|Continuous trading           |09:00-17:20                |09:00-12:50           |09:00-13:00  |

|Closing call                 |17:20-17:30                |12:50-13:00           |             |

|Closing prices               |17:30                      |13:00                 |13:00        |

|Derivatives                  |09:00-17:20                |                     -|-            |

+-----------------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+-------------+









  Opening and closing calls



A  call  is a type of electronic auction attended by buyers and sellers

of  shares.  Among  other  benefits,  the  call  procedure  facilitates

efficient  pricing and reduces the risk of price fluctuations. The call

is   open,  meaning  that  buyers  and  sellers  can  see  the  current

equilibrium price of a share. Buy and sell prices become visible at the

start of the morning call.



  SAXESS trading platform



Trading on the exchanges within OMX Exchanges and other NOREX exchanges

is  carried  out  in  the  electronic trading system SAXESS*, which was

developed  by  OMX  Technology.  SAXESS  is  a  modern high-performance

trading system that supports multiple exchanges running concurrently in

multiple  currencies.  The  system  supports all common trading models,

order types and instrument types.



*  To  be  implemented  on  September 27, 2004 in Helsinki, Tallinn and

Riga. The Vilnius Stock Exchange is expected to adopt SAXESS in 2005. 



  NOREX Member Rules



The  NOREX  Member Rules are a result of the harmonization of the rules

in force on the NOREX exchanges and they contain member terms and rules

for trading in equities and bonds. The NOREX Member Rules are available

at <a href='http://www.norex.com.' target='_blank'>http://www.norex.com.</a>



As of September 27, the Helsinki Stock Exchange's rulebook will consist

of  two  parts:  NOREX  Member  Rules and issuer rules. Compared to the

current  rules  of  the  Helsinki  Stock  Exchange,  there will be some

changes  including  the  lowering of the size limit for block trades in

shares,  in line with the other NOREX exchanges. Block trade rules will

also  be  introduced for other equity instruments. The Tallinn and Riga

stock  exchanges  will harmonize their current trading rules with NOREX

trading and membership rules.



  The Joint Baltic Market



The  Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius stock exchanges will form a joint Baltic

market  to  simplify  access  and  minimize  investment  barriers  when

operating on Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian markets. The Joint Baltic

Market  will feature a common Baltic list of securities, a common index

of  Estonian,  Latvian  and  Lithuanian markets and harmonized listing,

trading and disclosure rules for Estonia and Latvia. A cross-border DVP

link will be established between the Estonian and Latvian depositories.

There  will  be further benefits when the Vilnius Stock Exchange adopts

the common trading platform in 2005.



  The new Baltic index - BALTIX



The BALTIX Index is a capitalization-weighted chain-linked total return

index.  The  index  is  calculated daily using the most recent official

closing  prices  of  all  shares  listed on the Main Lists of the Riga,

Tallinn  and  Vilnius stock exchanges and comparing the compound market

capitalization  plus  dividends  paid  to the corresponding data of the

previous  trading  day. The index constituents are subject to quarterly

weight  limits of 10 percent of the compound market capitalization. The

index base value was set at 100.00 points on January 1, 2000. The index

is calculated using prices in Euro (EUR).



  The new RIGSE and VILSE indexes



The    RIGSE    Stock   Index   and   the   VILSE   Stock   Index   are

capitalization-weighted  chain-linked  total  return  indexes. RIGSE is

calculated  on  a  continuous  basis from the most recent prices of all

shares  listed  on  the  Riga Stock Exchange's Main List and I-List and

VILSE  is  calculated  on  a  daily basis using the most recent closing

prices  of  all  shares listed on the Vilnius Stock Exchange's Official

and  Current  Lists.  Old  Latvian and Lithuanian (except for LITIN-10)

indexes will be discontinued.



The  index  calculation  methodology  of the RIGSE and VILSE indexes is

harmonized with Finnish and Estonian total return index methodology. No

weight  limits  are  applied  to the index constituents. The index base

values were set at 100.00 points on January 1, 2000.



About  OMX  OMX  owns and operates the largest securities market in the

Northern  Europe  and is a leading provider of marketplace services and

solutions  for  the  financial  and energy markets. OMX consists of two

divisions:  OMX  Exchanges  and  OMX Technology. OMX Exchanges owns and

operates  the stock exchanges in Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga and

Vilnius  as  well  as  the  central securities depositories in Finland,

Estonia  and  Latvia.  Through  OMX  Exchanges  OMX offers access to 80

percent   of   the  Nordic  and  Baltic  securities  market.  For  more

information please visit <a href='http://www.omxgroup.com' target='_blank'>http://www.omxgroup.com</a>