Liquidity on Abu Dhabi bourse jumps five-fold amid IPO boom

Liquidity on Abu Dhabi bourse jumps five-fold amid IPO boom

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) saw its market liquidity jump five-fold in 2021 amid a boom in initial public offerings (IPOs) and positive performance of listed stocks, whose capitalisation have more than doubled to a record 1.6 trillion dirhams ($436 billion).

In a statement on Monday, ADX said that traded values on the exchange increased from 145 billion dirhams in 2020 to 739 billion dirhams in 2021, driven by higher levels of domestic and international investment.

ADX last year pushed ahead with initiatives to develop and deepen the exchange. It introduced a derivatives market, which paved the way for an agreement with FTSE Russell to develop co-branded indices.

The local bourse also established a framework for listing a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) and agreed to cooperate with bourses in Bahrain Istanbul and Astana.

Local investors accounted for 70 percent of the exchange’s traded value, while foreign institutional investors accounted for 30 percent.

Meanwhile, net foreign investment on the exchange reached 15 billion dirhams in 2021, the highest level recorded in the exchange’s history.

The market value of shares owned by foreign investors in 2021 doubled from 78 billion dirhams to 156 billion dirhams, while those held by UAE nationals reached 1.5 trillion dirhams compared