Prof. Dr. Haider Ali Al-Dulaimi The trading session on Monday, September 28, 2026, at the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX) reveals a picture that goes beyond the straightforward reading of individual stock gains and losses. Movements in market indices and trading volumes point to an ongoing phase of liquidity repositioning and the transfer of large quantities of shares among investors, while market indicators remain unable to provide a clear signal that the current price-correction phase has come to an end. The ISX60 Index closed at 961.75 points, down 0.53%, compared with 966.92 points in Sunday’s session and 976.17 points in Thursday’s session, September 24. This brings the index’s cumulative decline over the two sessions to approximately 1.48%. The ISX15 Index also fell from 1,208.07 points to 1,204.03 points, a decline of 0.33%. The significance of these figures lies not only in the magnitude of the decline, but also in its breadth. Fifteen companies recorded declines, compared with six companies that advanced in the regular market, reflecting continued selling pressure across a broad segment of stocks rather than being limited to a small number of leading companies. Nevertheless, a comparison with Sunday’s session reveals an important point: the pace of the decline has slowed. The ISX60 lost approximately 0.95% in the previous session, compared with 0.53% on Monday, while the ISX15 declined by around 1.33% on Sunday, compared with 0.33% on Monday. This slowdown is a development worth monitoring, but it is not sufficient on its own to conclude that the correction phase has ended. Confirmation would require simultaneous improvement in prices and liquidity, together with a broader base of advancing stocks. Contraction in Regular-Market Liquidity The picture becomes clearer when liquidity movements are examined. The value of trading in the regular market during Monday’s session reached approximately IQD 834.3 million, compared with about IQD 1.847 billion on Sunday, representing a decline of nearly 55%. Trading volume also fell from approximately 582.4 million shares to around 472 million shares. These figures indicate a clear contraction in normal market activity alongside the continued decline in the indices. This means that falling prices were not accompanied by an increase in regular-market liquidity, making the market’s direction more difficult to assess and highlighting the importance of distinguishing between normal trading liquidity and liquidity generated by exceptional transactions. Al-Ansari Bank Transaction: Why Aggregate Figures Are Not Enough At the same time, the second market witnessed exceptional activity involving Al-Ansari Bank, with approximately 24.9 billion shares traded at a value of nearly IQD 1.245 billion in a single transaction at a price of IQD 0.050 per share. This highlights the importance of examining the structure of trading rather than relying solely on aggregate trading values. One billion dinars distributed across a large number of companies and transactions reflects a completely different type of market behavior from one billion dinars generated by a single exceptionally large transaction. Therefore, an increase in total trading value does not necessarily indicate a corresponding increase in overall investment activity or an improvement in investors’ appetite for the market. Mansour Bank: Heavy Trading and an Almost Unchanged Price One of the most notable developments requiring close attention in recent sessions has been trading activity in Mansour Bank, where large quantities of shares have changed hands over a short period while the stock price has remained almost unchanged. On September 24, approximately 119.6 million shares were traded at a value of around IQD 243.8 million, with the stock closing at IQD 2.03. On September 27, trading volume increased to more than 422 million shares, with a value of approximately IQD 846.6 million. In Monday’s session, around 153.9 million shares were traded at a value of approximately IQD 310.7 million. Thus, the total volume traded over the three sessions approached 695 million shares, with an aggregate value of approximately IQD 1.4 billion, while the stock price remained within an extremely narrow range, moving from IQD 2.03 to IQD 2.01 and then remaining at approximately the same level. During Monday’s session specifically, the stock opened at IQD 2.01, reached a high of IQD 2.02, and a low of IQD 2.00, before closing at IQD 2.01. The relationship between exceptionally high trading volume and limited price movement makes the stock an important case for understanding the nature of liquidity flows during this phase. It suggests that large quantities of shares are being absorbed and changing hands within a narrow price range around the IQD 2.00 level. However, based solely on the session data, it is not possible to conclude that these transactions represent accumulation or distribution. Such conclusions require broader information regarding the identities of market participants, changes in ownership, and the behavior of supply and demand over a longer period. What is clear, however, is that the IQD 2.00–2.03 range has temporarily become an important equilibrium zone between supply and demand forces for the stock. The Market Is Entering a Phase in Which Liquidity Matters More Than the Index Alone The September 28 session presents a market moving through a corrective phase, but at a slower pace than in the previous session, alongside a decline in regular-market liquidity and the emergence of exceptional trading activity in a number of stocks. This highlights the importance of moving beyond the traditional reading of market indices toward a more comprehensive approach that combines index direction, market breadth, trading volumes, transaction values, and the performance of leading stocks. At present, the market is not sending a decisive signal that the correction has ended. At the same time, however, it is clearly showing significant activity involving the redistribution of liquidity and the transfer of large quantities of shares among market participants. Accordingly, the coming phase will be important in determining whether this liquidity develops into buying pressure capable of supporting prices, or whether it remains largely a process of repositioning and ownership transfers without a clear impact on the broader market trend. For economic observers, analyzing the market through the quality and direction of liquidity has therefore become more important than simply looking at the aggregate trading value. A large headline figure may conceal a single exceptional transaction, while repeated high-volume activity in a particular stock may reveal deeper changes in investor behavior. Accordingly, monitoring the coming trading sessions—particularly the behavior of the indices, leading stocks, and the liquidity accompanying any rise or decline—will remain the key factor in determining the nature of the phase currently being experienced by the Iraq Stock Exchange