Egypt’s financial regulator has approved the stock exchange’s decision to reduce trading halt times to 15 minutes, down from 30 minutes, as of Tuesday’s session, the exchange said on Monday, in an effort to boost market activity, Reuters reported.

The decision will lead to a “shortening of the time for which trading can be temporarily halted on a security during a session due to a price change … and will provide the bourse management the flexibility to increase or decrease halt times within a 15-30 minute range,” the bourse statement added.

The exchange currently suspends trading on stocks that rise or fall by over 5 percent for more than 30 minutes. It said on Monday the decision to halve the suspension time was aimed at increasing market activity and attracting foreign investors.