A sign of China Construction Bank is seen at a branch in Beijing, China, April 21, 2016. [Photo / Agencies]

DUBAI - China Construction Bank (CCB) marked here Tuesday the listing of a $600 million bond on the Middle East's only international exchange Nasdaq Dubai, the bourse said in an e-mailed statement.

Yuan Shengrui, the Senior Executive Officer of the CCB branch in the onshore banking free zone Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) rang the market-opening bell to celebrate the listing the bond on Nasdaq Dubai, under the bank's $6 billion Medium Term Note Programme.

With a market capitalization of $173.3 billion at the end of 2015, CCB is the fifth highest among listed banks in the world.

The listing supports the expansion of CCB's commercial and financing activities across the Middle East, said the bourse's statement.

Yuan Shengrui, senior executive officer of CCB DIFC Branch, said, "The international framework provided by Nasdaq Dubai as well as its close links to investors in its region and beyond, give China Construction Bank excellent visibility as we raise our profile across the Middle East."

Nasdaq Dubai is a licensed market of the DIFC and regulated by the DFSA which follows an internationally accepted framework for the financial industry.

The 2004-founded DIFC was the first established financial free zone in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the wider Middle East.

Essa Kazim, governor of DIFC said, "Dubai is committed to providing issuers from East Asia and around the world with an effective and responsive exchange architecture that meets all their requirements."

All bond and Sukuk listings on Nasdaq Dubai currently total $53.9 billion. The Dubai Customs said on Oct 9 that China was Dubai's primary trading partner in the first half of 2016 with a bilateral trade worth $21.52 billion.

China announced on Sep 23 that it would launch direct trading with UAE on its inter-bank foreign exchange market.