By: Mahmoud Gamal
Dubai – Mubasher: Foreign Investors in the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) were mostly buyers in January 2018, holding on their investments in Emirati stocks, amid exceptions of improved annual financial results and cash dividend distributions.
Foreign buying in the DFM amounted to AED 3.97 billion in January, against foreign selling of AED 3.72 billion, according to data compiled by Mubasher.
Foreign purchasing power accounted for 56.15% of total transactions in both the DFM and the Abu Dhabi Securities Market (ADX) at a turnover of AED 7.07 billion.
The increasing foreign investment in the DFM mirrors investors' optimism about the stock market, analysts told Mubasher.
Arab buying on the DFM totalled AED 1.227 billion last month, while Arab selling reached AED 1.257 billion.
Meanwhile, total buying of the GCC traders stood at AED 733.92 million, versus selling of AED 794.2 million, as total selling investments reached about AED 60.28 million.
Non-Arab traders were mostly buyers in January, netting AED 153.85 million from buying transactions worth AED 3.75 billion, while they were net sellers with AED 3.59 billion.
Purchasing power on the UAE stock markets has outperformed selling pressures, which indicates that foreign investors prefer to trade on local heavily-traded stocks, financial analyst at Menacorp Financial Services Essam Kassabia told Mubasher.
Trades in January showed that investors are holding on their stocks amid rising positive expectations regarding major firm’s financial results, Kassabia added.
Foreign investors were notably trading on the banks sector’s stocks as a result of banks’ recent remarkable financial results and cash dividend distributions, he noted.
Foreign investors are projected to resume purchasing on several stocks in February on the back of upcoming firms’ financial statements and Expo 2020 projects, he highlighted, adding that this will positively impact most listed private sector companies.
On the other hand, local traders were mostly sellers in January, netting AED 153.84 million from transactions worth AED 5.31 billion, while they were net buyers with about AED 5.16 billion.
Translated by: Mai Ezz El-Din
