More and more investors in the UAE have started using smartphones to buy and sell international stocks at Emirati bourses, thanks to its enhanced security features that come with the newer trading apps.

A major factor that is driving the increased use of stock trading with smartphones is the convenience. Investors can check stock movements, buy and sell stock and check their portfolios performances simply by accessing the apps on their phones.

A recent study by Google put the smartphone penetration in the UAE at a record 62 per cent. The country is far from peaking with penetration rates expected to reach 71 per ent with 3,752,100 owners by 2016.

Therefore, it seems only natural that one of the latest trends amongst UAE share traders is buying and selling stocks with their devices, said the study.

A major reason for the increasing use of smartphones for trading is its enhanced security features. Most of the new trading apps have password protection, which secures stock account information.

The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) are traditional stock markets that trade shares in the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries, while the Nasdaq Dubai is designed for global stocks.

The growth of these three markets has been encouraging to UAE investors: all three of these exchanges are experiencing explosive growth with ever higher rates of trading volumes.

For instance, the largest of the three stock markets, the DFM, has seen its General Index advance (year-to-date) by 43 per cent just in 2013, while the Abu Dhabi general index is up 32 per cent.

The shares of the 128 stocks on the UAE stock markets (DFM and ADX) have been bolstered by recent news that the MSCI will be upgrading the status of UAE stock markets from frontier market status to emerging market status.

For UAE investors, this is a big deal because it is likely to attract foreign investors to invest in the country’s stocks. While it is great that the UAE stock market is moving higher on increasing volume, many of the country’s investors are also interested in foreign stocks, said an expert.

"The UAE is seeing a convergence of all the major factors that create an encouraging environment for mobile trading. These range from user-friendly interfaces, optimal flexibility, enhanced security and real-time access to the markets 24/7," remarked Malek Kanawati, the CEO of Mubasher, a pioneer in the UAE mobile trading.

"Besides this, there is also the anticipated influx of foreign investors following the MSCI’s upgrading of UAE stock markets from ‘emerging’ to ‘frontier market’ status. There has never been a better time to embrace mobile trading,” he added.

Mubasher, he said, has already ushered the industry towards next-generation customized apps for iPhone, iPad and Android via the mobile web app, covering the full spectrum from ordinary handheld phones to the latest smartphone devices.

As a result of the widespread use of mobile devices, the increased interest by UAE citizens in the stock markets and the efforts by brokerage firms to provide smartphone trading apps, the use of smartphones to buy and sell stocks has grown dramatically.

“It comes as no surprise that the UAE has one of the highest smartphone penetration rates, with estimates of 2.4 mobile phones per person. The residents are certainly early adapters when it comes to new technologies," remarked Kanawati.

In addition to the DFM office, there are a number of multiproduct UAE-based brokerage companies. These firms allow their customers to buy and sell stocks, bonds, futures, currencies, forex, gold, oil, silver and more from their smartphones, he added.-TradeArabia News Service