JPMorgan buys stake in Dubai Mercantile Exchange

DuabI: Dubai's fledgling oil exchange is getting another big-name investor with the addition of US banking giant JPMorgan Chase.

The company, which recently acquired fallen investment house Bear Sterns and US bank Washington Mutual, joins Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell and three energy trading firms as minority shareholders of the exchange.

Details about the bank's stake were not made public, but it represents only a fraction of the exchange's overall value. The government of Oman and Tatweer, a company controlled by the ruler of Dubai, own 75 percent of the Dubai Merc.

The exchange has struggled to generate significant trading volume in its futures contract for Middle East sour crude oil.