Dubai May 3 2024: Hamed Ali, Chief Executive Officer at Dubai Financial Market (DFM), revealed that the market attracted 10 times the average number of new investors during the first quarter of this year compared to the five-year period before 2019.
During a panel discussion held as part of the second day of the 2nd Capital Markets Summit 2024, he stressed that diversifying the investor base is one of the top priorities for DFM.
“Over the past two years, we have exceeded annual records in attracting new investors, and last year 73 percent of them were international investors,” he said. “The market attracted around 44,000 new investors in the first quarter of this year, representing 10 times the average for the five-year period before 2019, with around 85 percent of them being international investors from around the world.”
Ali also stressed that the increasing weight of Gulf exchanges in the emerging markets index is a testament to the confidence in attracting high-quality liquidity to the market.
He spoke about the listings that DFM has witnessed, noting that 8 IPOs raised around AED35 billion in capital, with subscription requests exceeding AED1 trillion.
“Due to the high demand for IPOs, we are moving towards opening up additional sectors and focusing on the pre-IPO stage. We are now looking to expand beyond established companies, focusing on supporting startups in the pre-IPO stage by providing them with a platform to raise capital and access investors,” he added.
