Business | Markets
Commercial Bank leads fall in banking shares
Banking shares paced declines in Dubai and Abu Dhabi yesterday with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank falling nearly 9 per cent.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:45 December 18, 2008
Dubai: Banking shares paced declines in Dubai and Abu Dhabi yesterday with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank falling nearly 9 per cent.
The Abu Dhabi index fell 1.31 per cent to 2,676 while the Dubai index fell 1.02 per cent to 1,909.
In the capital, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank dropped 8.58 per cent and Union National Bank 5.32 per cent.
In Dubai, Emirates NBD and Commercial Bank of Dubai declined 4.06 per cent and 5 per cent respectively.
"Most of the flow is retail activity," said Matthew Wakeman, managing director, cash and equity linked trading at Egyptian bank EFG-Hermes in Dubai.
"Volumes are very low at the moment. A lot of international players are sitting on the sidelines until next year."
Elsewhere in the region, Kuwaiti shares fell sharply after a reduction in its a key interest rate failed to boost investor confidence.
The benchmark fell for a third trading day, declining 2.08 per cent to 8,623 points.
Kuwait shares dropped as the credit downgrade of Global Investment House, the country's biggest investment bank, raised concern that other companies might be affected too.
GIH tumbled to the lowest since December 2004 after Standard & Poor's cut its credit rating to "selective default."
Kuwait Finance House, the country's biggest Islamic bank, fell for a third day.
National Bank of Kuwait slid 5.41 per cent, two days after it said it will not meet its profit target for 2008 of up to 330 million dinars ($1.20 billion) amid the global financial crisis.
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