The firm, the Arab world’s only publicly listed exchange, made a loss of 2.95 million dirhams ($803,400) in the three months ending September 30, it said in a statement on Dubai’s bourse website on Sunday.

This compares to a profit of 71.51 million dirhams in the third quarter of 2009.

When excluding Nasdaq Dubai’s earnings, DFM’s third-quarter profit was 3.8 million dirhams.

Earlier this year, DFM bought Nasdaq OMX’s one-third stake in sister bourse, Nasdaq Dubai, with the two markets switching to a single trading platform and synchronized opening hours in a bid to bolster declining turnover.

This consolidation is nearly complete, chief executive Essa Kazim said in the statement.

“DFM (has) started the implementation of an ambitious strategy to diversify revenue and profit streams and limit dependency on trading commissions as the main source of profitability,” Kazim said.

The firm will look to boost information sales revenues, he added.

DFM’s traded value fell 54 percent in the first nine months of 2009, while full-year turnover is poised to slump to a six-year low.

DFM’s nine-month profit to the end of September fell to 77.8 million dirhams, down from 258 million in the year-earlier period.

Dubai’s index is down 4.5 percent this year and some 73 percent below a January 2008 peak as a property crash in the emirate and multi-billion debt restructuring by government conglomerate Dubai World sent shares tumbling.

DFM’s shares closed 3.5 percent lower in earlier trading on Sunday.