Trading volumes on Nasdaq Dubai up 30%

Equities trading volumes on Nasdaq Dubai jumped 30 per cent in 2009 to 3.10 billion shares, up from 2.39 billion in 2008, according to data released by the exchange.

Trade volumes in December 2009 reached 410 million shares, the second highest monthly volume recorded last year. This was a 170 per cent increase over the November 2009 trade volumes of 152 million equities and it was also 170 per cent higher than volumes reported in December 2008, which reached 152 million. The exchange introduced mandatory reporting of all over the counter equities trades in September 2008.

Equity derivatives volumes reached 125,000 in 2009, with 73 per cent of the volumes taking place in the second half of the year as the market expanded. A total of 14,100 derivatives traded in December 2009, down 31 per cent from the November 2009 volumes of 20,490.

Nasdaq Dubai launched its equity derivatives market in November 2008. Equity futures are listed on 21 individual UAE companies and on the FTSE Nasdaq Dubai UAE 20 share index, which was designed as a hedging and investment mechanism for GCC and global investors. The index rose by 48 per cent in 2009 to 1,851 points.

A total of 81,522 Dubai Gold Securities (DGS) traded in 2009 following their listing in March, with 52 per cent of trades taking place in the last quarter of the year. In December 641 DGS traded, down from 40,668 in November. Each DGS security is valued at approximately 1/10th of the spot price of gold. DGS are an initiative of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre and the World Gold Council and have been declared Shariah-compliant.

Despite the jump in trade volumes on Nasdaq Dubai, the market's activity remained at a low level and its proposed acquisition from Dubai Financial Market (DFM) is expected to push the turnover higher.

The DFM announced the acquisition last month and Essa Kazim, CEO of the DFM, told this newspaper that the acquisition process would be completed by the third quarter this year and the integration between the two markets will take place in 2011.

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