Dubai Financial Market: Trading Overview Of Fiscal Year 2011 (April 2011 – March 2012) & March 2012

Dubai Financial Market General Index decreased by 4.7% to 1648.9 points at the end of March compared to 1730.4 points at the end of February. At the sectoral level, five out of the nine indices represented on DFM ended the month in the red, with Industrials sector decreasing the most by 10.7%, followed by the Real estate and Transportation sectors by 8.3%, and 6.4% respectively. Services index rose by 10.6%, the Financial and investment services up 5.2% and the Telecommunication index up 1.6%.  The consumer staples sector has not witnessed any changes during this month.

The market capitalization down at the end of this month by 2.6% amounted AED 194.3 billion compared to AED 199.4 billion. The value of shares traded during this month reached AED 9.6 billion, compared to AED 8.7 billion recorded during February, an increase of 9.4%. Number of shares traded increased by 3.2% to reach 7.9 billion shares during this month compared to 7.6 billion shares were traded during the February. Number of transactions executed during March up by 13.9% to reach 116.8 thousands compared to 102.6 thousand deals carried out during the previous month.

As for sectors’ contribution to trading volumes, the Real estate and construction sector ranked first in terms of the value of traded shares, to reach AED 3 billion, or 31.8% of the total value of shares traded in the market. Financial Services and Investment sector ranked second at AED 2 billion, or 20.7%, followed by the Banking sector with AED 1.598 billion, or 16.7%, and the Services sector with AED 1.595 billion, or 16.7%. The Telecommunication sector with AED 627.4 million, or 6.6%, and the Transportation sector with AED 402.7 million, or 4.2%, Insurance sector with AED 302.8 million, or 3.2%.

The value of shares bought by foreign investors during this month reached AED 4.437 billion comprising 46.4% of the total value of shares traded. The value of shares sold by foreign investors during the same period reached AED 4.399 billion comprising 46% of the total value traded. DFM net foreign investment in-flow reached AED 37.4 million.

The value of stocks bought by institutional investors during this month reached AED 1.453 billion comprising 15.2% of the total value of shares traded. The value of shares sold by institutional investors during the same period reached AED 1.423 billion which constitutes 14.9% of the total value traded. DFM net institutional investment in-flow amounted AED 29.9 million.