The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index increased 12.1 percent to 3,531 points at the end of 2016 compared to 3,151 points at the end of 2015.

At the sectorial level, indexes of eight out of the nine sectors featured on the DFM ended the year in the green, with the Services sector rising the most, by 36 percent, followed by the Consumer Staples and Discretionary sector, rising by 22.1 percent, and Telecommunications sector by 21.6 percent. In contrast, the Industrial sector dipped 16.7 percent, said a Wam news agency report.

At the end of 2016, market capitalisation rose by 12.3 percent to Dh337.6 billion, compared to Dh300.7 billion at the end of 2015. The value of shares traded during 2016 reached Dh133 billion compared to Dh145.7 billion recorded in 2015, down by 8.7 percent. The number of shares traded increased by 14.2 percent to reach 105.8 billion shares during 2016 compared to 92.7 billion shares traded during 2015. The number of transactions executed during 2016 was down 14.4 percent to reach 1.3 million compared to 1.5 million deals carried out during in 2015, it said.

As for the sectors’ contribution to trading volumes, the Real Estate and Construction sector topped the list in terms of traded value to reach Dh57.2 billion or 43 percent of the total traded value in the market. The Banking sector came next at Dh35.3 billion (26.5pc), followed by the Financial and Investment Services sector with Dh13.3 billion (10pc), the Consumer and Discretionary Staples sector with Dh8.7 billion (6.5pc), the Transportation sector with Dh6.4 billion (4.8pc), the Services sector with Dh5.8 billion (4.3pc), the Telecommunications sector with Dh3.9 billion (2.9pc), the Insurance sector with Dh2.6 billion (1.9pc) and the Industrial sector with Dh9.2 million.

The value of stocks bought by foreign investors during 2016 reached Dh60.8 billion or 45.5 percent of the total traded value. The value of stocks sold by foreign investors during the same period reached Dh60.4 billion or 45.2 percent of the total value traded. Accordingly, the DFM’s net foreign investment inflow reached Dh360.5 million.

The value of stocks bought by institutional investors during 2016 was Dh40.1 billion or 30 percent of the total traded value. The value of stocks sold by institutional investors during the same period was Dh37.9 billion or 28.4 percent of the total value traded. Net institutional investment inflow amounted to Dh2.2 billion.