• Home
• /
• Local business

Financial Crisis Erodes Foreign Shareholding on ADX by 61pc

ABU DHABI — Foreign investment by non-GCC foreign investors in equities listed on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, has dropped by 61.11 per cent to 3.5 per cent last week from nine per cent, at the peak of a bullish run in July last year as global financial crisis effects values, a top official said.

Tom Healy, the Chief Executive of the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, said that the fall in foreign ownership of equities was due to withdrawal of funds invested in the equities by speculators who wanted to gain from the then anticipated de-pegging of dirham from US dollar.

He told a two-day UAE Global Investment Forum organised by the Institutional Investor magazine here on Wednesday, that other chief reason that led to the decline was that investors repatriated their gains.

The Arab world’s second-largest bourse in terms of market capitalisation, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange index fell 47.5 per cent last year as stock prices plummeted, as panicked investors dumped shares fearing the negative impact of the global 
financial crisis.

Healy said that foreign investors cannot be blamed for the drop. “Foreign investors will be part of the scene here and it is naive to blame them for the collapse of the market,” he added.

Healy told the forum that there was delay in the listing of the country’s first exchange traded funds or ETFs which was expected in April.

The local issuer of the fund needs more time to prepare for the launch, due to the financial crisis though the bourse was ready for its first listing.

This is ADX’s second delay to introducing ETFs, an investment vehicle that hold assets such as stocks or bonds and trade at almost the same price as the net value of their underlying assets over the course of the 
trading day.

An ETF holds assets such as stocks or bonds and trades at approximately the same price as the net asset value of its underlying assets over the course of the trading day.

Exchange traded funds are popular investment vehicle for being low in costs, tax efficient and 
stock-like features.

The introduction of ETFs to the market is part of Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange long term ambitions to diversify its product base.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange has plans to enlist 4-5 sector specific exchange traded funds in the first year 
of the launch.

The Stocks and Commodities Authority or SCA in February announced a regulatory framework for the financial product to be offered in the country. — haseebhaider@khaleejtimes.com