Abu Dhabi: The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) index bounced back on Sunday after three consecutive sessions of going down, with a 1.89 per cent gain to reach 4,739.54, while the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) general index rose 1.05 per cent to reach 5,005.21.
Despite the gains in both markets, volumes remained low as there was under Dh1 billion traded in each market (Dh784.8 million on DFM, and Dh112.1 million on ADX).
Dubai powerhouse, Arabtec, also started to rebound from its losses last week as share prices went up 1.25 per cent on the back of the announcement of financial results for the second quarter of the year. The company’s share prices had dropped everyday for the past week, ending with a total of 20.61 per cent decline.
On Sunday, shares started the day at a price of Dh3.85, and immediately dropped to their lowest point of the day in the next 15 minutes to reach Dh3.74. This was followed by a slow incline for the rest of the day that saw prices at a high of Dh4.17 at 12.15pm. Shares ended the day at a price of Dh4.05.
Other powerhouses in Dubai were mostly in the green as well. Dubai Islamic Bank gained 4.44 per cent, Union Properties went up 1.97 per cent, Emaar increased 1.89 per cent, and Deyaar Developments rose 0.82 per cent. However, Gulf Finance House remained flat.
Saleem Khokhar, head of equities at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi asset management group, attributed market gains on Sunday to the fact that positive financial results are starting to come out.
“Last week, we had quite a downdraft in terms of performance of the UAE markets, so now we’re seeing a little bit of recovery on the back of that. The focus last week was on Saudi Arabia more than the UAE, so we did see some sideways trading, and possibly some allocation going to Saudi,” he said.
Investors on holiday
As for the low trade values, Khokhar said it was due to the upcoming Eid break, and the fact that many investors are on holiday. He expected values to remain weak throughout the summer season until September.
“In the short term, the market is still likely to be volatile given that we saw today that the liquidity is not really there. When you have lower liquidity, you tend to find that the market is [trading] more aggressively in the upwards and downwards direction,” Khokhar said.
Of the 29 stocks traded on DFM, 17 went up, nine went down, and three remained unchanged. Of the 21 stocks traded on ADX, 14 advanced, four declined, and three remained flat.
