Nearly 125,000 active Emirati women now hold approximately AED39 billion worth of shares on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, accounting for 94 percent of the total value owned by female investors on the bourse. The figures, released as ADX marked Emirati Women's Day, underline how central Emirati women have become to the exchange's investor base.
ADX Group held a bell-ringing ceremony to mark the occasion, a customary gesture used by exchanges to spotlight milestones and communities of note.
A growing investor base
By mid-2024, UAE female investors on ADX had surpassed 309,000, representing 77 percent of all female investors on the exchange. Within that broader group, Emirati women represented around 91 percent of female shareholdings as of mid-2024, a share that has since risen to 94 percent.
Trading activity has followed a similar pattern. Female trading value on ADX reached AED7.6 billion in the first seven months of 2024, accounting for nearly 80 percent of total female trading activity on the exchange during that period.
Women inside ADX itself
The presence of women extends beyond the investor base and into the exchange's own workforce. Women account for 40 percent of ADX employees, with the figure recorded at 38.7 percent in 2024, while women held 20 percent of board positions that year.
ADX also reported a rise in training activity across the organization, with total training hours reaching 3,449.5 in 2024, up 37 percent from the previous year.
Abdulla Salem Alnuaimi, Group Chief Executive Officer of ADX Group, said: "Emirati women continue to advance the economy through resilience, determination and ambition, while their ability to drive innovation alongside nurturing their families reflects the strength of that contribution."
ADX's broader growth
The figures on female investment come as ADX marked its 25th anniversary in November 2025, now home to more than 200 listed securities and over 1.2 million investors representing more than 200 nationalities.
The exchange's market capitalization reached AED3.13 trillion at the end of 2025, up 4.6 percent from AED3 trillion the previous year. Total trading value on ADX rose 12.6 percent over the same period, reaching AED385 billion, while retail investor trading climbed 22.9 percent, from AED136 billion to AED167 billion.
Taken together, the numbers point to a widening base of retail participation on ADX, with Emirati women forming an increasingly significant part of that shift as the exchange enters its second quarter-century.
Reported by Economy Middle East.