Saudi Tadawul Group’s shares rose by more than 20% in its debut Wednesday. This is as the Gulf market heats up.

Khalid Al Hussan, CEO of Saudi Tadawul Group said that today was a major milestone in our transformation. He spoke to CNBC’s Dan Murphy Wednesday.

The stock exchange operator was listed at 105 Riyals (about $27.99 per share) and opened Wednesday at 115.4 Riyals, 10% higher than its listing price.

“Demand was significant for all types of investors — local, [regional]Al Hussan stated that the offer was open to all, including international and Saudi corporations, public funds and sovereign accounts.

Public Investment Fund was the only shareholder of the group, and the sale resulted in a total amount of $1 billion. This fund is responsible for investing to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy, as well as advancing its Vision 2030 agenda.

Minimum IPO for the Tadawul Group five years in the makingThe second largest listing in the year, after October’s $1.2 billion ACWA Power utility company. Investor interest was also high in the September float for Saudi Telcom’s internet services unit, which underlines hot Saudi demand.

Al Hussan stated that the momentum for the Kingdom’s transformation and opportunities for Saudi corporations to grow and profit from it were a major motivator for Saudi investors to choose to invest in such companies.

In response to UAE’s request, both the Dubai Financial Market (Abu Dhabi Exchange) and Abu Dhabi Exchange have announced that they will shift trading from Sunday through Thursday to Monday through Friday. decision to change its working weekNext year. Saudi Arabia, along with the rest of the Region, currently follows a Sunday-through-Thursday trading schedule.

Al Hussan claimed that although the UAE had made a decision to alter its market trading day, the exchange operator is “keeping a very careful eye”. However, no decisions have been taken to follow their lead.

Al Hussan declared, “We will not be reacting on a UAE decision yesterday.”

He said, “We will continue to monitor our trading hours.” International investors have not raised concerns about the time gap between the trading day in the U.S.A and Saudi Arabia from a capital markets perspective.

Economic competition between the UAE and Saudi ArabiaThe coronavirus pandemic has accelerated this trend.

Dubai, the regional commercial capital, plans to make 10 state-backed businesses public over the next few years. Abu Dhabi also saw a series of highly-publicized IPOs in this year and potentially more, which helped to boost the bourse’s performance by almost 80%.