Foreign investors drive Dubai stock market upturn

Foreign investors have been largely behind the recent upturn in Dubai's financial markets, it has been claimed.Blue chip companies based in the UAE city have attracted AED 580 million of fresh money since the start of 2013 and this has helped to breathe new life into the DFM General Index, the National reports.The index has risen by 17 per cent so far this year, which is a significant increase when compared to various neighbouring markets.Indeed, Saudi Arabia's stock exchange has only grown by 3.1 per cent over the same period, while Qatar has seen its main index go up by 4.9 per cent in the first six weeks of the year.The DFM has benefited from stronger performances in the US - where the Dow Jones has almost reached the highs of 2007 - Great Britain, Hong Kong and China.Adel Merheb, managing partner of stock research and analysis organisation Trade Your Market, told the news provider that investors are now operating in a global "risk-on" environment."With international markets doing well it is only logical that the last piece of the puzzle, frontier markets like Dubai, are now catching up," he was quoted as saying.Data supplied by the Dubai Land Department recently showed just how much "foreign money" is flooding into Dubai at the moment.An astonishing AED 58.6 billion was invested into the property sector alone last year and this figure is expected to rise sharply in 2013.Indians, Britons, Pakistanis and Russians were all prominent investors in the real estate market in 2012 and new legislation introduced by the Dubai government will make the city even more accessible to wealthy foreigners in the years to come.People who purchase brand new buildings in the emirate will be given more protection and guarantees under the new rulings and they will find it easier to claim compensation from construction developers if they are deemed to have broken the terms of their contract.