Abu Dhabi: The UAE bourses ended the week with a drop as the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) index fell 1.16 per cent on Thursday to reach 4,928.22, marking the first drop in eight consecutive sessions. The decline in the index brings the total change this week to 0.43 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) general index slid 1.13 per cent to reach 5,070.97.

In Dubai, Arabtec slid for the first time in eight trade sessions after former chief executive officer, Hasan Ismaik, said he turned down an offer from Aabar Investments to buy part of his stake at a price of Dh5 per share.

Speaking to Gulf News on Wednesday, Ismaik said he was still in negotiations to sell his stake in the company, but that a price of Dh5 per share was “not an option.”

Aabar is seeking to buy at least half of Ismaik’s 27.9 per cent stake.

Share prices for the real estate developer jumped 11.71 per cent during the first four days of the week amid speculations that the deal between Ismaik and Aabar was coming to a conclusion. On Thursday, however, share prices fell 1.67 per cent to reach Dh4.71.

Arabtec continued to top the market in terms of value and volume of trade. With Dh710.5 million worth of trade, the company accounted for nearly 57 per cent of the total value of trade on DFM.

Analyst Osama Al Ashry described DFM as a high-risk market, and said, “Trade is concentrated around Arabtec where Ismaik owns almost 30 per cent of shares, so he can control prices, and fix trade on the company.”

With trade focused on one company, the analyst said most powerhouses were trading abnormally as investors were not buying shares in the likes of Emaar, and Gulf Finance House, which both have a positive outlook.

As for the DFM index, Al Ashry, a member of British organisation, Society of Technical Analysts, said that it needs to break the resistance level of 5,288 during September in order for the market to be safer for trade.

“Another issue now is that a lot of Saudi investors who used to trade in DFM have left the market in favour of the Saudi one, which has recently announced positive news like opening up trade for foreigners, and is performing very well,” he said.

Discussing the outlook for DFM, Al Ashry said he was sceptical about whether the market would be positive once the index crosses 5,000.

On Thursday, most Dubai powerhouses in Dubai were in the red. Union Properties fell 1.75 per cent, Emaar dropped 1.44 per cent, Emirates NBD went down 0.95 per cent, Gulf Finance House slid 1.68 per cent, and Dubai Ports World declined 3.54 per cent.

In Abu Dhabi, Emirates Insurance Company topped the gainers’ list with an 8.7 per cent increase, followed by Emirates Driving Company with 3.53 per cent, Eshraq Properties with 1.49 per cent, and Al Khazna Insurance Co. with 1.45 per cent.

Of the 32 stocks traded on DFM, 28 went down, three went up, and one remained unchanged. Of the 29 stocks traded on ADX, 18 declined, six advanced, and five remained flat.

— With inputs from Bloomberg