Today's Edition
A. SREENIVASA REDDY (ABU DHABI)
Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) saw net foreign fund inflows of $3.4 billion in 2025, while the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) recorded net foreign investor inflows of $1.3 billion, according to data released by Kamco Invest.
However, this positive annual trend reversed in the final quarter of the year. Foreign investors emerged as net sellers on ADX during the fourth quarter of 2025, with net sales amounting to $1 billion, compared with net buying of $798.7 million in the previous quarter. The shift reflected broader regional market trends, movements in crude oil prices, and changing investor sentiment during the period, Kamco Invest said.
Despite the fourth-quarter outflows, the yearly picture for ADX remained positive, placing it among the leading exchanges in the GCC in terms of net foreign inflows during 2025. Kamco Invest data showed that ADX ranked just behind Saudi Arabia, which recorded the highest net foreign buying in the region over the year.
Dubai Financial Market also posted net foreign inflows for the full year, with total net buying of $1.3 billion in 2025. On a quarterly basis, foreign investor activity in Dubai was mixed during the fourth quarter, with net selling seen in the first two months of the period before sentiment improved and flows turned positive in the final month of the quarter.
At the UAE level, Kamco Invest noted that foreign investors were net sellers across all three months of the fourth quarter, contrasting with the overall net inflows recorded earlier in the year. This quarterly weakness followed a period of stronger foreign participation during much of 2025, even as aggregate buying by foreign investors declined over the course of the year.
Across the wider GCC, foreign investors were net sellers of equities in the fourth quarter of 2025, with net sales of $313.5 million, compared with net buying of $4.8 billion in the third quarter.
For the full year, however, the GCC exchanges continued to record net foreign inflows, led by Saudi Arabia, followed by Abu Dhabi and Kuwait, underscoring the region’s continued appeal to international investors despite short-term volatility.
