Enterprise Mobility |
AlphaTrade Eyes Mid-East Growth |
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New York - London AlphaTrade Eyes Mid-East Growth Vancouver-based market data provider AlphaTrade has set its sights on capturing market share in the Middle East by adding datafeeds from several Arabic exchanges to its Web-based E-Gate streaming equity data display. Chief executive Penny Perfect says that the vendor keeps track of subscribers trialling its Web product and during the summer noticed increasing interest from users around the recently created Dubai International Financial Center, where the region's economies are rich but the exchanges do not have the liquidity levels of, say, the North American markets. After developing an Arabic-language interface between June and July in response to the demand, the vendor saw further local interest, Perfect says, and as a result is setting up a business presence in Dubai that will allow it to trade in the region. That should be up and running by the time that company officials return to the region in November, and will be headed by Naim Mirza, newly-recruited international business development manager for the region. In the meantime, AlphaTrade has recently added data from the Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain stock exchanges, and the Dubai International Financial Exchange to E-Gate. "The Saudi exchange is the biggest right now, but Dubai is most important because it trades in US dollars and has more in common with international exchange environments," Perfect says. And the vendor plans to add the Amman , Beirut , Cairo , Palestine and Tunis stock exchanges and the Doha Securities Market in Quatar over the next two weeks, she says. Perfect says that so far, much of the interest has come from individuals, but that the vendor is also starting to see interest from institutional brokers in the region. One such unnamed broker, which is based in Cairo with offices in Dubai and Saudi Arabia, is testing both the English- and Arabic-language versions of E-Gate, embedded in its Web site. Max Bowie |