Abu Dhabi: Non-GCC investors were net buyers on ADX in the first half of 2009 announced Tom Healy, chief executive of Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.
Healy said that the ADX Index, market capitalisation and volumes were all up in the first half of 2009, influenced by an appreciation for the positive long-term economic outlook for Abu Dhabi.
Commenting on the ADX statistics for the first half of 2009, Healy made a number of observations about the trading patterns of investors as well as the overall value and volumes of trading by investors.
"Interestingly, while non-GCC investors only owned 4 per cent of the value of stocks listed on ADX, they accounted for around 30 per cent of all trading, buying and selling shares worth nearly Dh16 billion, giving them net purchases of Dh600 million worth of shares," said Healy.
"The number of institutional investors has also increased by 7 per cent," he continued. "Many institutional investors tend to be from outside the UAE, and increasing their number is an important objective for us in encouraging a diversity of shareholder types."
Emiratis remained the highest shares owners with Dh217 billion worth of shares, 92.5 per cent of the total value of shares.
Healy also said it was a good sign that volumes were up in the first half of 2009.
"We saw a fall in volumes towards the end of last year. Since the beginning of this year however, they have risen 39 per cent to over 20 billion shares from under 15 billion shares.
"As we would expect, given the lower values of shares, however, the value of trading is down by 48 per cent, with shares worth Dh36 billion changing hands in the first six months of the year compared to Dh70 billion in the latter half of 2008."
