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Dubai's share market, one of the most active in the Gulf, cancelled all deals and suspended trading shortly after opening after the city-wide power failure hampered communications between investors and brokers. Essa Abdulfattah Kazim told Gulf News trading at the Dubai Financial Market began as usual even after electricity supply snapped at about 9.45am as the electronic exchange switched to standby power and everyone expected power would soon be restored. But trading was halted approximately five minutes after it began, with about 90 trades completed, since investors were unable to follow market movements over the internet and some were unable to reach brokers following the collapse of the mobile phone network. "It was not fair for those who were outside monitoring the market through the internet since they didn't have electricity. Communication was really bad. Some people could not reach the brokers," Kazim said. "We could have continued but we decided not to…all deals were cancelled. Dubai's securities market - which lists 21 shares, four bonds and nine mutual funds - trades between 10am to 1pm from Saturday to Thursday. About 20 brokers service it. The value of shares traded on the exchange totalled Dh2.36 billion on Wednesday and had hit a record Dh3.06 billion on May 2. The Dubai index, which has jumped nearly 90 per cent since the beginning of the year helped by robust first quarter corporate results in a booming economy, high oil prices and flush liquidity, closed at 905.82 points on Wednesday.
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