24 Oct, 2011NASDAQ Dubai hosts seminar on opportunities for investment in gold

Event explains Dubai Gold Securities (DGS) to UAE brokers

Senior representatives of 20 leading UAE brokers attended a NASDAQ Dubai seminar that explained opportunities for individuals and institutions to invest in gold, with products listed on NASDAQ Dubai.

The event included a presentation about Dubai Gold Securities (DGS), an initiative of Dubai Multi-Commodities Centre Authority (DMCC) that tracks the spot price of gold and can be bought and sold on NASDAQ Dubai through a broker, like shares. DGS is backed by physical gold in an HSBC Bank vault.

Capitalising on the growth of gold as an asset class, the seminar illustrated how gold can be used in a balanced portfolio to offer diversification away from traditional securities such as stocks.

Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman, DMCC, said: -DMCC has launched DGS as part of its initiatives aimed to promote gold trade through Dubai. DGS provides the only listed opportunity in the GCC countries to trade gold close to its spot price, without having to hold it physically.-

Gerhard Schubert, Head of Precious Metals, Emirates NBD, presented an analysis of gold price movements at the seminar, held at Dubai Financial Market. Igor Neumann, Head of Client Specialists - Trading, Gulf, of Thomson Reuters and his colleague Peter Galbraith, Business Development Manager, Commodity & Energy, demonstrated correlations of the gold price with other asset classes to illustrate the performance of gold and its investment potential as part of a balanced portfolio.

Jeff Singer, Chief Executive of NASDAQ Dubai, said: -The seminar provided an excellent opportunity to exchange views with brokers about gold and its usefulness as an investment tool at a challenging time for international markets. Individual and institutional investors have easy access to trading DGS on NASDAQ Dubai through DFM's trading platform.-

Last week NASDAQ Dubai transferred the trading of DGS to the trading platform of Dubai Financial Market (DFM), in order to facilitate DFM's retail investors' participation in trading DGS. NASDAQ Dubai's equities have traded successfully on DFM's platform since June 2010.

Mr Schubert said: -The price of gold is a mirror of existing uncertainties in the economic as well as the world's political outlook. We believe about 5% - 10% of investor portfolios should have an exposure to gold for diversification, as gold takes on the role of an insurance policy against global uncertainty in a prudent diversified portfolio.-

The brokers attending the seminar included Members of a variety of exchanges including NASDAQ Dubai, DFM, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, and DGCX. NASDAQ Dubai's presentation on DGS was delivered by Craig Hewett, Head of Business Development.

Trading of DGS on NASDAQ Dubai reached 8,761 securities in the third quarter of 2011, an increase 1,280% over the first two quarters of the year combined.