Nasdaq Dubai confident of IPOs

The chief executive of Nasdaq Dubai has said that the bourse will be in a strong position to attract IPOs as market confidence recovers. In a media statement announcing a 63 per cent year-on-year slump in trading volumes for the month of November, Jeff Singer said on Sunday that the Dubai bourse continues to prepare for new listings despite the lack of liquidity.

“In a challenging period for the UAE’s capital markets, in which trading values across its stock exchanges have declined, Nasdaq Dubai continues to strengthen its infrastructure and prepare for new product listings,” Jeff Singer, CEO of Nasdaq Dubai, said.

“Institutional liquidity combined with an active retail base will put Nasdaq Dubai in a strong position to attract further initial public offerings as market confidence recovers,” he added in a media statement.

The value of shares traded on Nasdaq Dubai in November 2011 reached $36 million, down 62.8 per cent from the $97 million traded in November 2010, according to statistics released by the bourse. The value of shares traded in November was down 42 per cent from $69 million in October 2011, a trend in line with regional exchanges, the Dubai bourse said.

Individual investors accounted for 5.8 per cent of the traded value of all shares traded on Nasdaq Dubai in the first 11 months of 2011. Total equities traded value in that period by individual and institutional investors was $646 million.

Nasdaq Dubai started routing all its equities trades through the trading platform of Dubai Financial Market (DFM) in July 2010, in order to facilitate access by individual investors. Individual investors accounted for 2.7 per cent of equities traded value in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The FTSE Nasdaq Dubai UAE 20 index ended November 2011 at 1,438, down 4 per cent from the end of October 2011 and down 20 per cent from the end of 2010.  The index tracks 20 liquid stocks listed on DFM, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and NASDAQ Dubai. It has been designed as a hedging and investment mechanism for GCC and international investors.

Trading of Dubai Gold Securities (DGS) on NASDAQ Dubai reached 760 securities in November 2011. The total value of DGS traded in the first 11 months of 2011 reached $2.3 million.

DGS closely track the spot price of gold and are structured products that can be traded on Nasdaq Dubai through a broker, just like equities. DGS are backed by gold in a bank vault and can be held without the inconvenience of holding physical gold.

Nasdaq Dubai outsourced the trading of DGS to the trading platform of DFM in October 2011.

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