UAE firms to be listed on London FTSE exchange

14/09/2010 00:00 AST

Investors poured back into local markets yesterday, bidding up share prices as they welcomed news that could reverse the downward trend so far this year.

Dubai shares hit a three-month high on the first day of trading since Ramadan, bolstered by Dubai World’s announcement over the weekend that it reached a deal with 99 per cent of its creditor banks.

In another development, the regional director of London’s Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) told The National yesterday that 21 listed companies from the UAE would be added to its global equity index from Monday in a move that promises to bring the shares to more international investors.

The inclusion on the FTSE index “is a strong step towards the development and growth of the market as a whole”, said Marwan Shurrab, the vice president and chief trader at Gulfmena Alternative Investments in Dubai.

The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index added 2.4 per cent to 1,630, reaching its highest level since May 24.

Traded value on the DFM was its highest in months and more than double the daily average recently, as US$110 million (Dh404m) worth of transactions were recorded.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index (ADX) also gained 1.4 per cent to 2,567 on similarly strong volumes.

Both bourses remain solidly in the red for the year but some analysts see the FTSE exposure as a possible cure for the low volumes that have afflicted the markets.

“We will be looking at Dh1 billion daily in traded value as normal, which would change everything,” said Saad al Chalabi, an institutional trader at AlRamz Securities in Abu Dhabi.

FTSE, the largest indexes provider outside North America, classified the UAE as a “secondary emerging market” last year but the stocks will not be added to the Global Equity Index Series until next week, said Jonathan Cooper, the regional director for the FTSE.

Being a part of the index means global fund managers controlling tens of billions of dollars will begin evaluating the shares as potential investments against those in other emerging markets.

Of the 21 stocks to be included, 13 are traded on the DFM, seven on ADX and one – DP World – is listed on the NASDAQ Dubai.

MSCI Barra, a competing index, said this year it still considered the UAE a “frontier market” and would not consider upgrading the country to “emerging market” status until next year.

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The National