Dubai Financial Market (DFM), one of Arab world's leading bourses, said the value of shares traded in 2012 soared to Dh48.6 billion ($13.2 billion), up 51.4 per cent compared to Dh32.1 billion the year before.

Announcing its 2012 performance, the Dubai bourse said the number of shares traded rose by 60.8 per cent to reach 40.5 billion shares during the year compared to 25.2 billion shares traded during the previous year.

According to DFM, the market capitalization increased at the end of this year by 1 per cent amounting to Dh181.9 billion compared to Dh180.1 billion at the end of previous year.

The DFM General Index increased by 19.9 per cent to 1622.5 points at the end of 2012 compared to 1353.4 points the year before. At the sectoral level, indexes of seven out of the nine sectors represented on DFM ended the year in the green, with the services sector increasing the most by 144 per cent, followed by the Industrial and Real Estate & Construction sectors by 44.6 per cent and 42.5 per cent respectively.

The banking sector was down by 4.5 per cent, while the consumer staples sector index has not changed during this year.

DFM said the number of transactions executed in 2012 registered a 39.7 per cent jump to hit 6.2 million compared to 4.44 million deals carried out during the previous year.

As for the sectors’ contribution to trading volumes, the real estate and construction sector ranked first in terms of the traded value, to reach Dh23.2 billion, or 47.7 per cent of the total traded value in the market.

The banking sector ranked second at Dh8.9 billion or 18.2 per cent, followed by the financial & investment services sector with Dh5.1 billion or 10.5 per cent, the services sector with Dh4.1 billion or 8.4 per cent, the telecommunication and the transportation sectors with Dh2.83 billion or 5.8 per cent for each and the insurance sector with Dh1.7 billion or 3.5 per cent, it stated.

According to DFM, the value of stocks bought by foreign investors in 2012 reached Dh22.5 billion comprising 46.2 per cent of the total traded value. The value of stocks sold by foreign investors during the same period reached Dh22 billion comprising 45.3 per cent of the total value traded.

With this, the net foreign investment in-flow into the DFM rose to Dh461.2 million, said the bourse in its statement.

Meanwhile, DFM said the value of stocks bought by institutional investors during the year reached Dh11.3 billion comprising 23.2 per cent of the total traded value.

The value of stocks sold by institutional investors during the same period reached Dh10.2 billion which constitutes 21 per cent of the total value traded. With this, the net institutional investment in-flow into DFM rose to Dh1.1 billion, it added.-TradeArabia News Service