Dubai: UAE bourses ended lower on Thursday due to lack of activity as traders are preparing for a long weekend due to Eid Al Fitr holidays.
Dubai’s benchmark index ended down 0.34 per cent to 4,651.75 points and Abu Dhabi’s ADX index by 0.23 per cent to 4,952.96, dragged down by real estate, finance and investment shares.
“Even though today’s [Thursday] volume is better than Wednesday, it is still below average. The main reason is due to low trading on Arabtec shares, considerably lower than the two previous trading sessions. It now represents about 30 per cent of trading volume compared to 60 per cent couples of weeks back,” said Mohammad Ali Yasin, managing director of NBAD Securities in Abu Dhabi.
He said that traders who need liquidity or cash have sold their shares on Wednesday in order to get the money on Sunday. Any settlement today will only happen on next Thursday. So, traders are not ready to build any “new positions” despite strong earnings results as it is the summer season.
The bank’s shares have performed much better in Dubai than Abu Dhabi.
“Emirates NBD has surprised the market with its second-quarter results and it was a very strong number, which shows that the bank has cleaned up its balance sheet and the shares are expected to rise further,” Yasin said.
Among the gainers, CBD rose by 10.17 per cent to Dh6.50, followed by Ascana by 7.89 per cent to Dh2.05 and Emirates NBD by 4.21 per cent to Dh9.9.
Active value leader
Hits telecom fell by 4.76 per cent to Dh0.600, followed by National Industries Group by 4.55 per cent to Dh3.15 and Dartakaful by four per cent to Dh0.720.
Of the 34 companies traded, 12 rose, 19 fell and three remained steady.
About 404.32 million shares worth Dh927.38 million were traded.
Arabtec was the active value leader while Gulf Finance House was the active volume leader.
The Dubai index has surged by 38.04 per cent so far this year while Abu Dhabi index by 15.45 per cent.
DFM index is still the best performer after Argentina’s Merval index.
“Only selective trading is expected in August and the rally is expected to happen only in the middle of September when traders are back after the summer holidays,” Yasin said.
In Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Ship Building was leading the gainers’ list by 14.81 per cent to Dh2.48, followed by Ras Al Khaimah White Cement by 14.09 per cent to Dh1.70 and Umm Al Quwain by 13.93 per cent to Dh1.39.
Oman and Emirates Investment Holding fell by 9.55 per cent to Dh1.61, followed by Al Buhaira National Insurance by 9.41 per cent to Dh3.85 and Green Crescent Insurance by 6.03 per cent to Dh1.09.
Of the 36 companies traded, 16 rose, 14 fell and six remained steady.
About 70.08 million shares worth Dh210.22 million were traded.
Aldar was the active value leader while RAK Properties was the active volume leader.
