Yesterday, it was put forward by the data released by the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) that during the first half of the year, non-GCC investors were net buyers of shares in the UAE stock markets to the tune of Dh649 million.

The lion's share with non-GCC investors including Arabs and foreigners were taken by ADX at the end of the second half as net buyers of shares worth Dh600m. For the same category, DFM accounted for Dh49m.

According to ADX CEO Tom Healy, "While non-GCC investors only owned four per cent of the value of ADX stocks, they accounted for 30 per cent of all trading, buying and selling shares worth nearly Dh16 billion."

The highest owners of the shares were the UAE nationals by value on the ADX, with Dh217bn worth of shares, or 92.5 per cent of the total value of shares owned.

Non-GCC investors bought shares worth Dh28.75bn on the DFM and sold shares worth Dh28.26bn during the period.

"Foreign investors were net buyers of Dh14m, buying shares worth Dh9.20bn and selling shares worth Dh9.06bn. Total non-GCC investors accounted for 65.8 per cent of

turnover on the DFM while foreign investors accounted for 21 per cent of turnover," revealed the data.

As compared to the first half of 2008, non- GCC investors were slightly smaller buyers on the DFM during the first half this year. Last year they were net buyers of shares worth Dh66m.

The data specified, "However, they were far smaller buyers compared to the first half of 2007, when they netted out at Dh5.89bn."