Dubai Financial Market launches new trading platform for ETFs

Dubai Financial Market (DFM), the UAE’s main stock exchange, launched on Sunday a trading platform for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in an effort to encourage the listing of more such funds by improving liquidity.

The market currently lists just one ETF, Afkar Capital’s S&P UAE UCITS fund, which invests on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and NASDAQ Dubai as well as DFM itself. It replicates the S&P UAE BMI Liquid 20/35 Capped Index, which includes the largest stocks by capitalisation in the United Arab Emirates.

The new platform, which DFM described as the region’s first of its kind, aims to make trading smoother and more efficient. Afkar Capital said on Sunday it had appointed Egypt’s Beltone Financial as foreign market maker for its fund.

Source: Reuters