That's the bell to mark the start of trading at Sudan's fledgling stock exchange.

It's small. About 40 smartly dressed men and women in a basement near the capital's central bus station.

And for about an hour a day, they're all trying to help map out the future of the country's markets.

Although the market capitalization is tiny -- only around 177 million U.S. dollars, traders say they have ambitious plans to expand the stock market once the government has stabilized the economy.

Dima Awad, General Manager at Sudan's biggest brokerage Sanabel Securities, says the key to its future is diversification.

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) GENERAL MANAGER AT SUDAN'S BIGGEST BROKERAGE SANABEL SECURITIES, DIMA AWAD, SAYING:

"We need to have new products that support the state's strategic goals. We need to have (strong) stock movement, our stock movement compared to countries abroad, we are not on the same level. We are still in a recession when it comes to stocks. So as I told you, we need new products that support the country, we need new strategies to manage stocks, we need the current government to better support financial markets, Khartoum exchange and companies. In order to develop, we need the government to look at that side."

Currently only one brokerage can trade in real-time online, but the exchange's assistant director, Abdelrahman Majeed, says he hopes to connect all brokers online soon.

Dealers said some foreigners, mainly from the Gulf, had bought into the market but struggled to get a return on their investments since the 2011 secession of South Sudan.

Still, traders were able to avoid a crash during the months of unrest which toppled leader Omar al-Bashir.

And trade volumes have been rising steadily, increasing to around 245 million U.S. dollars so far this year from just under 200 million in 2018.