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The value of equities traded on NASDAQ Dubai rose by 20% in August 2010 from the same period in August 2009. It was the first full month of trading since the exchange outsourced its operations to Dubai Financial Market (DFM) on July 11, 2010.
The August value reached 78.7 million dollars, up from 65.5 million in August 2009. The proportion traded by individual investors, as opposed to institutions, also increased. Volume for the month fell by 9% to 158.6 million shares, from 175.2 million in the same 2009 period.
NASDAQ Dubai outsourced its trading, settlement, clearing and custody functions for equities to DFM on 11 July, 2010, as part of a strategy to increase trading of its equities by individual investors and bring them together in one liquidity pool with institutional investors.
UAE brokers have increased their share of trading of NASDAQ Dubai equities since the outsourcing. In August, the most active broker by volume was Al Futtaim HC Securities, followed by Deutsche Bank and then EFG Hermes.
In the first eight months of 2010, traded value of NASDAQ Dubai equities rose to 858 million dollars from 587 million in the same period of 2009, an increase of 46%. Volume fell to 1.9 billion in the same period from 2.1 billion, a decrease of 14%.
The FTSE NASDAQ Dubai UAE 20 index ended August 2010 at 1,550, down 3.5% from the end of July 2010 and 16% lower than at the start of the year.
The index tracks 20 stocks listed on the DFM, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and NASDAQ Dubai. It has been designed as a hedging and investment mechanism for GCC and international investors.
