DUBAI: Turnover on the Dubai Financial Market fell 60 percent in 2010, slumping to a six-year low, the company said in its annual report on Wednesday.
The bourse’s traded value in 2010 was 69.7 billion dirhams ($18.98 billion), down from 173.5 billion dirhams in 2009.
Last year’s turnover was the lowest since 2004 and was less than a quarter of the 2008 total.
The trading slump also hurt valuations, with Dubai’s index dropping 9.6 percent in 2010, the worst performing Gulf Arab benchmark. Qatar’s index was the top performer in 2010, rising 24.8 percent followed by Saudi Arabia which gained 8.2 percent.
Dubai share prices have slumped in the wake of the financial crisis and the emirate’s debt crisis, with the index down 74 percent from a January 2008 peak.
The real estate and construction sector continues to dominate bourse trading, accounting for 67 percent of turnover in 2010. Property prices in the emirate have fallen nearly 60 percent from 2008 and face a further 11 percent decline as oversupply delays any hopes of a recovery, an October Reuters poll found.
Slumping turnover on the Dubai bourse and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange has forced many brokers to close, while the Dubai and Abu Dhabi governments have been in talks over a bourse merger.
Individual investors accounted for about three-quarters of Dubai’s traded value last year and institutions made up the remainder.
