Dubai Financial Market (DFM), one of Arab world's leading bourses, said foreign investors bought stocks worth Dh1.134 billion ($308.6 million) in August, which was 50.7 per cent of the total traded value. Announcing this on Sunday, DFM said the market capitalization increased at the end of this month to Dh179.5 billion, up 0.3 per cent compared to Dh179 billion the previous month. DFM said its general index increased by 0.3 per cent to hit 1547.82 points at the end of August compared to 1542.64 points in July. At the sectoral level, indexes of four out of the nine sectors represented on the bourse ended the month in the green, with the telecommunication sector increasing the most by 5.6 per cent, followed by the transportation and banks sectors by 2.3 per cent, and 1.5 per cent respectively, said the bourse in its statement. According to DFM, the value of stocks traded during August fell 21.3 per cent to reach Dh2.2 billion from Dh2.8 billion in July. Of this, the value of stocks sold by foreign investors reached Dh1.098 billion comprising 49.1 per cent of the total value traded. Accordingly, DFM net foreign investment in-flow reached Dh35.7 million. On the other hand, the value of stocks bought by institutional investors in August reached Dh558 million comprising 25 per cent of the total traded value. The value of stocks sold by institutional investors during the same period reached Dh649.6 million which constitutes 29.1 per cent of the total value traded. The net institutional investment out-flow into DFM amounted to Dh91.6 million, said the top regional bourse in its statement. DFM pointed out that the consumer staples sector's index has not changed during the month, while the services, real estate and contraction and insurance indices fell by 3.2 per cent, 2 per cent, and 0.7 per cent respectively. The number of stocks traded decreased by 9.8 per cent to reach 1.9 billion stocks during this month compared to 2.2 billion stocks traded in July, he DFM said in a statement.. The number of transactions executed during August fell down by 15.3 per cent to reach 313,000 compared to 369,000 deals carried out during the previous month. On the sectors' contribution to trading volumes, DFM said real estate and construction sector ranked first in terms of the traded value which hit Dh1.29 billion, or 57.6 per cent of the total traded value in the market. The banking sector came second with Dh367.8 million (16.5 per cent), followed by the telecommunication sector with Dh197.7 million (8.8 per cent), the transportation sector with Dh101.6 million (4.5 per cent), the financial and investment services sector with Dh96.8 million, the services sector with Dh91.9 million and the insurance sector with Dh91.1 million. TradeArabia
