Real estate stocks take another thrashing

Dubai: The end of the battering of real estate stocks on the Dubai Financial Market seems to be nowhere in sight.

Emaar Properties dragged the Dubai's stock market down by six per cent to close at 1,981.44. Emaar, the largest Arab property developer, declined 9.75 per cent to end at Dh2.87. In the past seven trading days, Emaar has declined 57.73 per cent.

Since July 1, the real estate index has come down from 11,206.7 to 2,931.51, a loss of 8,275.19 points. And close to Dh80 billion has been wiped out from the listed companies in the sector.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange Index ended 0.34 per cent down at 2,755.62. "The perception is that Dubai is going through a harder time than Abu Dhabi in general - the economy in terms of the real estate," said Sherif Mahmoud Salem, fund manager, asset management group, National Bank of Abu Dhabi.

"Abu Dhabi companies seem to be more cash-rich than their Dubai counterparts." Also, Salem adds, the negative news is coming out more from Dubai rather than Abu Dhabi which leads to more selling pressure on DFM.

"The bearish sentiment prevailing on DFM is so overwhelming that the support levels could not hold the market [DFM]," said Shiv Prakash, equity investment analyst, technical at Mac Sharaf Securities.