The Government of Dubai Media Office has kicked off a new International Media Briefing series, giving global media direct access to the leaders shaping Dubai's key sectors.
The inaugural session brought together international press with Hamed Ali, CEO of Dubai Financial Market and Nasdaq Dubai, for a detailed look at the emirate's capital markets growth.
Ali walked journalists through the performance of both exchanges, which serve distinct groups of issuers. DFM's market capitalisation has now crossed AED1 trillion, marking 191% growth since 2020, while the DFM General Index climbed 17.2% in 2025. Average daily trading value has topped AED1 billion.
Over the last four years, DFM has raised AED47 billion in capital through 12 IPOs, drawing AED1.3 trillion in investor demand and adding more than 465,000 new investors. Ali also spotlighted Arena, the exchange's newer platform built to support SMEs and high-growth companies by linking them with DFM's base of over 1.2 million investors.
On the Nasdaq Dubai side, Ali pointed to 33 new fixed-income listings worth US$13.8 billion since early 2026, with international issuers making up 40% of that total. Outstanding sukuk on the exchange now stands at US$98.6 billion. He also flagged the strong response to the Sovereign Retail T-Sukuk Programme, the UAE's first retail sovereign sukuk, whose debut issuance was raised from AED50 million to AED100 million after being oversubscribed nine times.
Mona Ghanem Al Marri of the Government of Dubai Media Office said the series aims to give international media deeper context on Dubai's development story. Hend Fekri, the office's Director of Strategic Media Relations, added that the initiative is meant to build lasting relationships with global press. The briefing series will continue throughout the year.
News Source: Emirates News Agency
