From souqs to stock markets - The National Newspaper

It is hard to believe, but only a decade ago buying and selling shares of local companies was not much different to haggling over a carpet in a souq.

There were few traders and reaching agreement over a price could take several minutes.

“We would queue and fight for our turns to get to the brokers’ counter to put our orders in,” says Sobhi Asim, 40, a Jordanian who has been trading in Abu Dhabi for more than a decade.