Abu Dhabi: The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) index rose 0.22 per cent on Thursday to end the day’s trade at 4,399.64, bringing its total growth this week to 4.58 per cent. Meanwhile, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) index fell 0.75 per cent to reach 4,770.74.

Dubai powerhouse Arabtec climbed 6.34 per cent to reach a share price of Dh3.52. With over Dh1 billion worth of trade, Arabtec made up 36 per cent of the total value of trade on DFM.

Arabtec’s shares started the day at a value of Dh3.25, and dropped during the first few minutes of trade to reach a minimum of Dh3.1. The rest of the day saw an overall gain in prices with a maximum of Dh3.72 at noon. The rise on Thursday brings the total growth in share prices this week alone to 15.16 per cent.

Mohammad Yasin, managing director of National Bank of Abu Dhabi securities, said Arabtec’s press conference held on Wednesday was a positive step that helped share prices by allowing for transparency with shareholders. “I think the speed by which [Arabtec] recovered will slow down in the coming few sessions. As the share price moves up, we see bigger resistance. If we are able to maintain or get closer to Dh4, that will be good,” he said.

Other stocks on DFM were mostly in the green at closing time. Drake & Scull International rose 2.03 per cent, Union Properties went up 1.69 per cent, and the DFM stock price grew 5.23 per cent.

However, Emaar, and Dubai Investment Co fell 1.5 per cent, and 1.48 per cent respectively.

Discussing market performance Yasin said, “The markets have seen a continuation of the high volatility that we’ve seen in the past couple of days. Initially there was some profit-taking; some people who bought in the last two days were making some profits, then we saw some strong resurgent, which was probably led by Arabtec.”

With trade being concentred on Arabtec, Union Properties, and Eshraq Properties, Yasin said this was an indication that the market was dominated by speculative investors rather than long-term investors.

The DFM index started the day’s trade at 4,353.14, and reached a minimum of 4,284.3 during the first few minutes of trade. Continued fluctuations throughout the day saw the index reach a high of 4,518.72 at noon, then drop again.

Despite the slight gain in DFM index, Yasin said that approaching 4,400 hopefully means an end to the negative move in the past weeks. He expected the index to move between 4,200 and 4,600. The upcoming announcement of financial results for the second quarter of the year is also expected to build a solid base for future gains in the market.

As for ADX, Yasin said, “It was a good day for ADX. Some of the stocks like Aldar, and some banks were good initially but they could not hold those gains, so we saw some givebacks, and that’s why you saw the index fall 0.75 per cent.”

Of the 31 stocks traded on DFM, 16 went down, 11 went up, and four remained unchanged. Of the 34 stocks traded on ADX, 19 advanced, 12 declined, and three remained flat.