Foreign shares value on UAE markets hits $27bn

ABU DHABI / WAM

Foreign investors secured AED6.4 billion in gains during April, 2017, augmenting the total market value of foreign stocks at Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and Dubai Financial Market (DFM) to AED97.7 billion ($26.6 billion) by end of last month, a 7% increase from AED91.3 billion ($24.8 billion) in March.
The growth is attributable to an improvement in the value of leading shares, especially those at the real estate and banking sectors listed at ADX.
Most of the gains secured by this segment of traders, who include Gulf, Arab and non-Arab investors, were booked at ADX where the market value of their shares amounted to AED43 billion in April, a growth of 20 percent from AED35.8 billion in March. On the contrary, the market value of DFM, declined by around AED 800
million, according to official released figures.
Non-Arab investors were top performers in April with total share market value amounting to AED65.77billion in April, AED 29.9 billion of which are invested at ADX and AED 35.87 at DFM.
Gulf investors came second with total share market value of AED 25 billion, AED 14.1 billion of which at DFM and 10.9 at ADX. Arab investors invested AED7 billion, including AED 4.7 billion at DFM and AED2.3 billion at ADX.
A large number of non-Arab investors increased their investments at First Abu Dhabi Bank, listed under the ticker symbol NBAD, following the merger of National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank,, ratcheting up their share market value during April.

Business conditions in non-oil private sector firms improve 

DUBAI / Emirates Business

The latest survey data showed that business conditions across non-oil private sector firms in UAE continued to improve markedly at the start of Q2. Sharp increases in output and new orders were a key factor behind the overall upturn, as was a survey-record increase in pre-production inventories.
The survey, sponsored by Emirates NBD and produced by IHS Markit, contains original data collected from a monthly survey of business conditions in the UAE non-oil private sector.
Tim Fox, Head of Research and Chief Economist at Emirates NBD, said: “The UAE PMI remained little changed in April from March, at both a headline level and in terms of the detail. The PMI shows that while overall activity was firm going into the second quarter, companies are still facing significant challenges as job creation remains subdued and pricing power is limited.”