RIYADH: Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange closed the first half of 2026 with a record total market value of 2.8 trillion Emirati dirhams ($762 billion), backed by 171 billion dirhams in trading value.
According to the Emirates News Agency, total traded volume rose 3.7 percent year on year to 50.3 billion shares, while average daily trading volume climbed 9 percent to 423 million shares, with roughly 3.3 million transactions executed, a 12 percent annual increase.
Market makers lifted their share of total trading value by three percentage points to 15 percent, adding further depth to liquidity.
The UAE’s Capital Market Authority reported that it completed 3,170 licenses and approvals in 2025, up from 1,272 the previous year, a roughly 150 percent jump it described as one of the strongest annual increases on record, pointing to a deepening pool of long-term capital across the UAE’s markets.
“Abdulla Salem Alnuaimi, CEO of ADX Group, said the exchange’s focus remains on building a more advanced market with strong liquidity and closer ties to global markets, in support of Abu Dhabi’s position as an open, leading global economy and a preferred destination for business and investment,” according to WAM.
He added that ADX Group continued to expand market access, strengthen its infrastructure, and roll out new innovations and solutions during the first half of the year, enabling local and international investors to participate in the market with greater efficiency and speed.
Investor activity
Institutional investors accounted for 78 percent of total trading value in the first half of the year. Investment inflows reached 1.4 billion dirhams, up 13.7 percent year on year, while foreign investors represented 48 percent of total trading value.
Emirati nationals’ share of total trading value rose six percentage points year on year to 52 percent.
ADX attracted 30,000 new investors in the first half of 2026, up 7.1 percent year on year, with foreign investors making up 77 percent of all newly registered investors during the period.
Total dividend distributions rose to 49.9 billion dirhams over the same period.
ETF growth
ADX now hosts 24 exchange-traded funds, with their combined market value surging 1,459 percent year on year to 24.3 billion dirhams in the first half of 2026.
Exchange-traded fund trading value rose 166 percent to 203 million dirhams, while trading volume grew 167 percent to 38 million units and the number of trades rose 168 percent to 19,552.
