Dubai Financial Market Performance, 2017

The Dubai Financial Market General Index decreased by 4.6% to 3370 points at the end of this year compared to 3531 points at the end of 2016. At the sectorial level, indexes of four out of the nine sectors represented on DFM ended the year in the red, with the Consumer Staples and Discretionary sector decreasing the most by 52.9%, followed by the Telecommunication sector by 17.7%, and Real Estate and Construction sector by 6.2%. In contrast the Services sector increased by 26.3%, followed by the Banking sector by 3.1%, and the Insurance sector by 1.9%.

The market capitalization increased at the end of this year by 16.7% amounting to AED 394 billion compared to AED 337.6 billion at the end of previous year. The value of shares traded during this year reached AED 115.1 billion, compared to AED 133 billion recorded during 2016, down by 13.4%. The number of shares traded decreased by 22.1% to reach 82.5 billion shares during this year compared to 105.8 billion shares traded during last year. The number of transactions executed during this year down 16.9% to reach 1.1 million compared to 1.3 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 45 billion, or 39.4% of the total traded value in the market. The Banking sector ranked Second at AED 33.1 billion or 29%, followed by the Financial and Investment Services sector with AED 11.7 billion or 10.3%, the Services sector with AED 6 billion or 5.2%, the Transportation sector with AED 4.9 billion or 4.3%, the Consumer and Discretionary staples sector with AED 4.5 billion or 4%, the Telecommunications sector with AED 4.49 billion or 3.9%, and the Insurance sector with 4.43 billion or 3.9%, and finally the Industrial sector with AED 42.9 million.

The value of stocks bought by foreign investors during this year reached AED 50.2 billion comprising 43.5% of the total traded value. The value of stocks sold by foreign investors during the same period reached AED 51.4 billion comprising 44.5% of the total value traded. Accordingly, DFM net foreign investment out-flow reached AED 1.2 billion. 

On the other hand, the value of stocks bought by institutional investors during this year reached AED 41.3 billion comprising 35.7% of the total traded value. The value of stocks sold by institutional investors during the same period reached AED 40.3 billion which constitutes 34.9% of the total value traded. Net institutional investment in-flow amounted AED 967.8 million.