Univest Brokerage of Dubai to Close After Trading Volumes, Stocks Tumble

Dubai’s Univest Brokerage sought approval from the United Arab Emirates’ market regulator to halt operations for a year, joining more than 10 companies making similar requests, after trading volumes and stocks slumped.

“We have been suffering from a drop in market liquidity and volumes,” Amr Nashaat, Univest’s operations manager, said in a phone interview from Dubai today. “We were not making enough to break even despite attempts to cut costs and we most likely won’t reopen next year.” Univest has 15 employees and 160 clients, Nashaat said.

The volume of shares traded in Dubai has plummeted to a daily average of 166 million this year from 468 million in the year-earlier period. Dubai’s benchmark index of 32 stocks has slumped 82 percent to 1,493.33 since reaching a record in November 2005.

Twelve brokerages in the U.A.E. have submitted requests to the Securities and Commodities Authority to suspend operations this year, Ibrahim Obeid Al-Zaabi, deputy chief executive officer for licensing, supervision and enforcement, said Aug. 4. Five companies received approval to shut and their licenses have been suspended for one year, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Zahra Hankir in Dubai at zhankir@bloomberg.net

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