Riga - NASDAQ OMX Group announced Thursday that it plans to extend the trading hours at its three Baltic exchanges in Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius.

The move comes as the tiny stock exchanges try to attract back investors who fled in the face of a sharp economc downturn in the region.

Trading hours will be extended by two hours from the current 2 pm closing time to give traders a six-hour day starting at 10 am.

At present, traders in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania enjoy one of the shortest working days among financial centres.

The new regime will come into effect from February 2 next year.

The extended trading hours will allow investors to trade longer and will better correspond to the working hours of other markets in Europe. The extension will also provide Baltic investors with more time to follow global trends and react to them.

Announcing the change, Henrik Elfving, president of NASDAQ OMX Baltic market said: "Extending trading hours is akin to widening the aisle. Investors will have more freedom to trade when it is convenient for them."

"In the longer term we expect to see a positive impact from extension of the trading hours. We are committed to make the Baltic market as accessible to investors as the major markets are, and we will continue to work on this," Elfving said. (dpa)