• Home
• /
• Local business

Non-GCC Investors Net Buyers on ADX

ABU DHABI - The foreign investors were net buyers on Abu Dhabi Exchange or ADX in the first half of 2009, as volumes have picked up compared with second half of the last year, a top official said.

ADX Index, market capitalisation and volumes were all up in the first half of 2009, influenced by an appreciation for the positive long-term economic outlook for Abu Dhabi.

“Interestingly, while non-GCC investors only owned four per cent of the value of stocks listed on the bourse, they accounted for around 30 per cent of all trading, buying and selling shares worth nearly Dh16 billion, giving them net purchases of Dh600 million worth of shares,” Tom Healy ADX Chief 
Executive said.

“The number of institutional investors has also increased by seven per cent,” he continued. “Many institutional investors tend to be from outside the UAE, and increasing their number is an important objective for us in encouraging a diversity of
 shareholder types.”

UAE Nationals remained the highest owners of shares by value, with Dh217 billion worth of shares, 92.5 per cent of the total value of shares owned.

ADX Chief Executive said it was a good sign that volumes had picked up in the first half of 2009, compared to the second half of 2008: “We saw a fall in volumes towards the end of last year. Since the beginning of this year however, they have risen 39 per cent to over 20 billion shares from under 
15 billion shares.

“As we would expect, given the lower values of shares, however, the value of trading is down by 48 per cent, with shares worth Dh36 billion changing hands in the first six months of this year compared to Dh70 billion in the latter half of 2008.”

During the first half of year only one was enlisted on the Exchange, taking the total number of companies up to 66 and a combined market capitalisation of over Dh282 billion, a 12 per cent increase on the end of 2008.

Etisalat is the largest company listed on ADX by market capitalisation, followed by National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

In terms of the companies most traded on ADX, ALDAR was the highest traded, with over Dh8.5 billion worth of shares changing hands.

ALDAR was followed by Sorouh, with Dh6.4 billion and then RAK Properties, Dana Gas and Aabar Investments.

haseebhaider@khaleejtimes.com