Middle East forex traders deal heavily on dbFX

Dubai: Middle East foreign currency traders have been trading heavily in the euro-dollar currency pair during the first two quarters of 2008, according to the latest figures from dbFX, the online forex trading platform from Deutsche Bank, a leading global investment bank.

The euro-dollar currency pair accounted for nearly 37 per cent of all forex volume traded through dbFX in the first quarter of the year.

It dipped slightly to 34 per cent of all forex volumes in the second quarter as investors continued to buy the euro, whilst the dollar further devalued against the European currency.

This compares to a global volume figure from across all regions of 36 per cent for the first two quarters for the euro-dollar currency pair.

Middle Eastern forex traders' second most popular currency pair during the first quarter of 2008 was the dollar-yen, accounting for 24 per cent of all regional volumes.

The second quarter was marked by traders buying into the sterling-dollar pair, with 28 per cent of the quarter's volumes, having only accounted for seven per cent of trading volumes during the first quarter.

The sterling-yen currency pair was third placed during the first quarter for the Middle East, with 17 per cent of all volumes. It moved to fourth placing during the second quarter of the year, with forex traders placing the dollar-yen currency pairing at third place with 28 per cent of volumes for the quarter.

"We are seeing more and more investors in the Middle East entering the forex markets as the growth prospects of global equity and bond markets diminish. Forex offers investors the means to diversify their portfolios, as forex is proven to have low correlation to bond and equity market returns," Betsy Waters, Global Director of dbFX for Deutsche Bank, said in a statement on Monday.