Dubai Financial Market

The Dubai Financial Market is a stock exchange located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was founded on March 26, 2000. There are about 57 companies listed (as of August 2007) on DFM, most of them are UAE-based companies and a few dual listings for companies based in other MENA region countries. Many companies allow foreigners to own their shares. Total market cap is around $360bn, which is roughly equal to the market cap of Abu Dhabi Securities Market ($380bn) (as of August 2007). In comparison, the market cap for Exxon Mobil (as of Oct. 2008) is $360bn. During 2004 and 2005, there were significant increases in the volume of shares traded and the share prices of many companies. However, towards the end of 2005 and through the first few months of 2006 the bubble has burst and share values dropped by around 60% on DFM, along with similar decreases in most other Persian Gulf stock markets. DFM is one of three stock exchanges in the UAE. Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) also lists mostly UAE companies and the recently opened Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) was set up to trade international stocks. DFM is majority owned by Borse Dubai, with 20% of the DFM's shares listed on the DFM platform.