Planned stock market listings in Abu Dhabi held back by conditions

New listings on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange may take a while until market conditions improve, its chief executive said on Monday.

Low oil prices and regional turmoil are keeping volumes low on Abu Dhabi’s stock market. Even so, private companies in Abu Dhabi and elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates have appointed advisors to help them go public.

“There are companies who want to go public,” Rashed al Baloushi told reporters at a conference. “These companies are waiting for the right time, right conditions.”

He did not say how many companies want to issue shares or when they expect market conditions to get better. Currently, 68 securities are listed on the Abu Dhabi exchange, he said.

The exchange is in talks with private firms for listing on Abu Dhabi’s secondary market, where two companies are now listed. ADX is also in talks with two institutions, one a bank, to act as market makers, he said, and hopes to settle the details by the end of the year. He declined to name them.

National Bank of Abu Dhabi in February became the first company to begin market-making, in an effort to boost trading volumes.