Nasdaq Dubai to launch futures on Adnoc Distribution, Emaar Malls

The two stocks will increase the number of the exchange's single stock futures to 16

Nasdaq Dubai plans to launch equity futures this year on selected companies listed on Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange. Paulo Vecina / The National
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Nasdaq Dubai will on Wednesday launch futures on Abu Dhabi National Oil Company for Distribution (Adnoc Distribution) and Emaar Malls in a move that will give a boost to the trading of single stock futures and, on the same day, Adnoc Distribution will list on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).

“With businesses in different industry sectors and listings on different exchanges, Adnoc Distribution and Emaar Malls further diversify the opportunities for investors to hedge or take a position on our equity futures market, including making gains whether the value of the underlying share is falling or rising,” said Hamed Ali, the chief executive of Nasdaq Dubai.

The fuel retailer Adnoc Distribution raised Dh3.1 billion in an initial public offering this month, while Emaar Malls, a unit of Dubai’s biggest listed property developer Emaar Properties, joined the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) in October 2014 after raising Dh5.8bn.

The trading of single stock futures on Nasdaq Dubai, which began in September 2016 with seven UAE-listed companies, will expand to 16 companies with the inclusion of Emaar Malls and Adnoc Distribution. The single stock futures include Emaar Development, which was added in November following its floatation that raised Dh4.8bn.

Nasdaq Dubai is extending its offerings in a bid to attract more investors to its derivatives market, where more than 2.9 million futures contracts have traded since the platform opened.

“We will maintain the expansion of our derivatives platform by adding further products based on UAE and other regional markets in coming months and years,” Mr Ali said.

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Dubai-based Shuua Capital, which is the market maker for all Nasdaq Dubai's single stock futures, will provide market-making services to the two new stocks.

In October, the Nasdaq Dubai and ADX said they agreed this year to launch a futures contract linked to the Abu Dhabi General Index, following a similar agreement with the DFM to start a futures contract linked to the DFM General Index, which would be traded on Nasdaq Dubai's derivatives platform.

Launch dates for the futures contracts will be announced soon, Nasdaq Dubai said on Tuesday.

Nasdaq Dubai has been expanding its remit to help attract more investors and diversify its offerings.

The exchange signed a licence agreement with the index complier MSCI to use its widely-tracked regional indexes to create derivative products to be traded on Nasdaq Dubai’s derivatives platform.

Stock exchanges in the UAE are offering new services and asset classes in a bid to woo more foreign investors and increase liquidity.

ADX in October a limited form of short-selling for 10 stocks including FAB, the country’s biggest lender, the telecoms operator Etisalat, the lender Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and the developer Aldar Properties.

The DFM also plans to launch regulated short-selling to boost liquidity in stocks and equity futures, but has declined to give a timetable.