The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange is the second-largest bourse in the region by market value. Photo: ADX
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange is the second-largest bourse in the region by market value. Photo: ADX
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange is the second-largest bourse in the region by market value. Photo: ADX
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange is the second-largest bourse in the region by market value. Photo: ADX

Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and FTSE Russell unveil Growth Market Index


Sarmad Khan
  • English
  • Arabic

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, the Arab world's second-largest bourse by market value, and FTSE Russell have developed a new benchmark to track the performance of the ADX’s Growth Market segment.

The FTSE ADX Growth Market Index (FADGMI) that went live on Thursday includes the eligible constituents of the recently rebranded Growth Market.

It will allow investors to “mimic” the performance of the platform that consists of a range of emerging and fast-growing companies, the ADX said on Thursday.

The launch of the FADGMI is part of the ADX’s tie-up with FTSE Russell. The new index comes on the heels of the FTSE ADX 15 Index (FADX15), a blue-chip benchmark of the 15 largest and the most liquid stocks on the bourse, which was unveiled in March.

More co-branded indexes are expected to be launched under the partnership in the coming months, the ADX said.

The ADX Growth Market is an emerging equity segment on the Abu Dhabi bourse that connects investors and private businesses in sectors, ranging from sports to transport, wholesale trading and health care.

“The introduction of the FADGMI demonstrates our commitment to providing market participants with new benchmarks that meet world-class standards, particularly with the exchange’s rapidly growing international investor base,” said Saeed Al Dhaheri, managing director and chief executive of the ADX.

The new index will allow investors to track opportunities and make “insightful investment decisions to better manage their investment portfolios”, he said.

The tie-up of the ADX and FTSE Russell — London Stock Exchange's wholly-owned global provider of benchmarks, analytics and data solutions — is part the ADX's push to broaden its product offerings, which include the derivatives market with single stock futures unveiled in the fourth quarter of 2021 and FADX15 index futures launched in June this year.

The collaboration of the ADX and FTSE Russell is also an important component of “increasing liquidity and supporting the exchange's market capitalisation growth” strategy, Mr Al Dhaheri said.

The Abu Dhabi bourse is the first exchange in the region to use FTSE Russell as its index administrator and is part of a strategy launched last year to attract more foreign investors.

In January, the FTSE ADX General Index replaced the ADX General Index, and the FTSE ADX sector indexes took the place of the sector indexes that existed at the time.

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How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers

Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.

It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.

The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.

Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.

Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.

He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.

AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”

A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.

Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.

Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.

Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.

By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.

Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.

In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”

Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.

She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.

Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.

Updated: September 01, 2022, 10:35 AM