The Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) announced yesterday that it will go live on a trading platform from minority owner Nasdaq OMX Group on July 4.

The platform, which is replacing an equities trading system from NYSE Euronext, will allow for derivatives, which DIFX plans to roll out later this year, pending regulatory approval, said Mark Fisher, VP of market development at the Dubai exchange. The derivatives will be based on equities listed on DIFX, the Dubai Financial Market and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, and the exchange plans to list futures contracts based on the FTSE DIFX UAE 20 equity index.

The Nasdaq OMX platform “will help to drive the expansion of the DIFX as the international exchange serving the Middle East,” Peter FitzGerald, chief operating officer of DIFX, said in a statement. “Derivatives are a key part of our growth strategy to offer new opportunities to investors.”

FitzGerald added that the switch “marks a significant step in the integration of the global capital markets by strengthening the DIFX’s links with Nasdaq OMX.” In February, Nasdaq acquired a 33.3 percent stake in DIFX as part of its merger with OMX; state-owned DIFX parent Borse Dubai acquired a 19.9 percent interest in Nasdaq OMX in the transaction.

The technology announcement follows the appointment of Jeffrey Singer, SVP and head of international business at Nasdaq since November, as chief executive of DIFX, effective July 1. Singer, who started at Nasdaq in October 2003 as VP of the Eastern U.S., succeeded Per Larsson, former CEO of OMX predecessor OM Group, who became head of the Dubai exchange in July 2006. According to DIFX, Larsson left to take “another senior position in the region.”

Markus Gerdien, EVP for market technology at Nasdaq OMX, said in an interview that his company has a “strong footprint” in the region, providing platforms to Abu Dhabi, the Saudi Stock Exchange, Bahrain Stock Exchange and Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchange. Calling the Middle East “very important” to Nasdaq, Gerdien added that the region’s “economy is growing extremely fast, thus creating an enhanced focus on well-functioning capital markets.”

Bob McDowall, analyst in London for Needham, Mass.-based TowerGroup, said that the OMX technology is well suited to such deployments. “It’s a very flexible, shrink-wrapped technology platform that’s almost … the technology benchmark for central exchange technology these days,” he said.

Last week, NYSE Euronext announced plans to purchase a 25 percent stake in the Doha Securities Market of Qatar for $250 million. Under the deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, NYSE will leverage its technology and product expertise to enhance DSM’s cash equities business and build a derivatives trading platform and post-trade services.

“NYSE and Nasdaq–they’re both looking for additional outlets for their technology,” said McDowall, who expressed doubts about whether a U.S. market could own a Middle Eastern exchange in the short term. “I don’t think that would be contemplated–it could lead to all sorts of systemic and other regulatory issues were there increased political tensions,” he said. “We shouldn’t assume that the technology is going to lead to a consolidation of the Middle East exchanges under the Nasdaq OMX or NYSE umbrella.”

Established in 2005, DIFX currently lists 14 companies, most of which see light trading. On June 16, California-based financial services IT vendor NetSol Technologies became the first company to list dually on the Dubai exchange and Nasdaq. The same pool of ordinary shares of NetSol, which listed on Nasdaq in 1999, is tradable on both exchanges through a share registry service provided by stock transfer agent Computershare.