Dubai Financial Market Performance, 2016

The Dubai Financial Market General Index increased by 12.1% to 3531 points at the end of this year compared to 3151 points at the end of 2015. At the sectorial level, indexes of eight out of the nine sectors represented on DFM ended the year in the green, with the Services sector increasing the most by 36%, followed by the Consumer Staples and Discretionary sector by 22.1%, and Telecommunication sector by 21.6%. In contrast the Industrial sector decreased by 16.7%.

The market capitalization increased at the end of this year by 12.3% amounting to AED 337.6 billion compared to AED 300.7 billion at the end of previous year. The value of shares traded during this year reached AED 133 billion, compared to AED 145.7 billion recorded during 2015, down by 8.7%. The number of shares traded increased by 14.2% to reach 105.8 billion shares during this year compared to 92.7 billion shares traded during last year. The number of transactions executed during this year down 14.4% to reach 1.3 million compared to 1.5 million deals carried out during the previous year.

As for the sectors’ contribution to trading volumes, the Real Estate and Construction sector ranked first in terms of the traded value, to reach AED 57.2 billion, or 43% of the total traded value in the market. The Banking sector ranked Second at AED 35.3 billion or 26.5%, followed by the Financial and Investment Services sector with AED 13.3 billion or 10%, the Consumer and Discretionary staples sector with AED 8.7 billion or 6.5%, the Transportation sector with AED 6.4 billion or 4.8%, the Services sector with AED 5.8 billion or 4.3%, the Telecommunications sector with AED 3.9 billion or 2.9%, and the Insurance sector with 2.6 billion or 1.9%, and finally the Industrial sector with AED 9.2 million. 

The value of stocks bought by foreign investors during this year reached AED 60.8 billion comprising 45.5% of the total traded value. The value of stocks sold by foreign investors during the same period reached AED 60.4 billion comprising 45.2% of the total value traded. Accordingly, DFM net foreign investment in-flow reached AED 360.5 million. 

On the other hand, the value of stocks bought by institutional investors during this year reached AED 40.1 billion comprising 30% of the total traded value. The value of stocks sold by institutional investors during the same period reached AED 37.9 billion which constitutes 28.4% of the total value traded. Net institutional investment in-flow amounted AED 2.2 billion.