Dubai Financial Market (DFM) swung to a third-quarter net loss as declining trading volumes and the inclusion of sister bourse Nasdaq Dubai's results in its earnings hurt the bottom line.
The firm, the Arab world's only publicly listed exchange, made a loss of Dh2.95 million in the three months ending September 30, it said in a statement on Dubai's bourse website on Sunday.
This compares to a profit of Dh71.51m in the third quarter of 2009.
When excluding Nasdaq Dubai's earnings, DFM's third-quarter profit was Dh3.8m.
Earlier this year, DFM bought Nasdaq OMX's one-third stake in sister bourse, Nasdaq Dubai, with the two markets switching to a single trading platform and synchronised opening hours in a bid to bolster declining turnover.
This consolidation is nearly complete, chief executive Essa Kazim said in the statement.
"DFM (has) started the implementation of an ambitious strategy to diversify revenue and profit streams and limit dependency on trading commissions as the main source of profitability," Kazim said.
The firm will look to boost information sales revenues, he added.
DFM's traded value fell 54 per cent in the first nine months of 2009, while full-year turnover is poised to slump to a six-year low.
DFM's nine-month profit to the end of September fell to Dh77.8m down from Dh258m in the year-earlier period.
Dubai's index is down 4.5 per cent this year and some 73 per cent below January 2008 peak.
DFM's shares closed 3.5 per cent lower in earlier trading on Sunday.