Abu Dhabi: Both the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) indexes continued to plunge on Sunday as Dubai shares headed for their worst quarter since 2012.

The DFM index slid 2.35 per cent slide to reach 4,123.61, while the ADX general index fell 0.37 per cent to end at 4,647.57.

Almost all Dubai powerhouses ended the day’s trade with a decline as Arabtec dropped 6.45 per cent, Union Properties fell 7.29 per cent, Drake & Scull International went down 6.25 per cent, and Emaar dipped 2.78 per cent.

Arabtec, which plunged a total of nearly 30 per cent of its value last week alone, reached a share price of Dh2.90 on Sunday. The real estate developer started the day’s trade at a price of Dh3.07, and fell to Dh2.93 during the first half hour of trade. Prices continued to fluctuate throughout the day, ending at Dh2.90, as Arabtec’s trade value made up 26.6 per cent of the total trade on DFM.

Sebastien Henin, head of asset management at The National Investor, attributed the drop in markets to a lack of catalysts, especially following the boost that came from the MSCI upgrade, and the announcement that Dubai won the bid to host Expo 2020.

“Now with Ramadan there is a lack of activity by investors, and people are not keen to enter the market. Also, stocks like Arabtec and Union Properties tend to amplify market movements, so when the index drops, these stocks will drop [even further],” Henin said.

The analyst commented on Arabtec saying that its future performance on DFM will depend on the news flow coming out of the company.

Despite a general positive outlook on the UAE economy, Henin said he predicted a further drop on DFM.

“[The index] will probably break 4,000 in the coming weeks. The market went up too high too soon, and now it has to correct. I expect profit-taking to continue in Abu Dhabi as well,” he said.

Dubai’s index has declined 18 per cent so far this month. It entered a bear market on June 23 after dropping 20 per cent from a high in May. The decline cut its estimated price-earnings ratio to 14 from a peak of 19 in May.

Of the 30 stocks traded on DFM, 21 went down, eight went up, and one remained unchanged. Of the 25 stocks traded on ADX, 14 declined, eight advanced, and three remained flat.

 

— With inputs from Bloomberg