Dubai: Dubai bourse dropped 2.54 per cent to 1,832 points after investors booked profits from the past two session rallies.

Property stocks led by Arabtec dragged index down. The developer lost 1.54 per cent to Dh2.55 despite subsidiary Arabtec Construction Company in Doha, Qatar receiving a potential deal to construct the Dh524 million World Trade Centre in Doha. The 60-storey tower will take about 26 months to complete.

Emaar lost 3.88 per cent to Dh3.96 and Dubai Financial Market dropped 4.57 per cent to Dh1.88. Developer Deyaar retreated 3.92 per cent to Dh0.49, while heavyweight Emirate NBD lost 3.79 per cent to Dh3.05.

"Today was just profit taking. The market is one cycle away from the month's end. This is the day to do that. Beginning of next month, retail investors will come back, looking for cheap stocks. There is a lot of international cash lying around as well," said Mathew Wakeman managing director, cash and equity linked trading, EFG-Hermes said.

Air Arabia and Drake and Scull also lost gains from previous sessions, losing 0.93 and 2 per cent respectively.

"The outlook is still positive. Investors are locking gains and market is not just moving up or down in a straight line," he said.

Some gains were seen by Global that shot up 10.92 per cent to Dh1.32 and Gulf Finance House that moved up 4.30 per cent.

"It [UAE] has issues that it's working through but regionally, its still positive and quite undervalued," Wakeman said. Upside from here on is expected.

 

Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi-Real estate stocks continued to dominate trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), but did little on Monday to help the benchmark index counter profit-taking by investors.

Still, the index inched-up by less than 0.1 per cent to 2,931 points, enough to maintain its highest mark since mid-November.

"Market has been moving up very rapidly in the past three four days, so it has to take a breather," Al Fajer Securities Partner Nabil Farhat. "We're not talking about a major correction. We call it an interim correction."

Aldar gained 0.2 per cent to Dh4.62 and Sorouh lost 0.4 per cent to Dh2.49, as both stocks accounted for 59 per cent of total trading value.

HC Securities yesterday recommended investors move their capital from Sorouh to Aldar, saying in a research note the latter "offers the most unlocked value and is likely to benefit more from an improvement in credit conditions."

Bank stocks continued to perform well on the back of the Dubai World debt restructuring proposal presentation last week. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank gained 1.4 per cent to Dh2.07, while First Gulf Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi advanced by 1.7 per cent to Dh19.70 and 1.3 per cent to Dh11.80 per share, respectively.

Monday marked the ADX's fifth consecutive gaining session and the third since Dubai World announcement. Abu Dhabi avoided getting dragged down by reports Dubai Holding is looking to restructure as much as $20 billion of its debt.

"The fundamentals of this market are still good," said Farhat. "The Dubai World proposal was positive, oil prices are high, company valuations are still low and the sharp drop in CDSs (debt insurance) indicates systemic risk is low."

 

Dubai bourse dropped 2.54 per cent to 1,832 after investors booked profits from the past two sessions.

Property stocks led by Arabtec dragged the index down. The developer lost 1.54 per cent to Dh2.55 despite subsidiary Arabtec Construction Company in Doha, Qatar receiving a potential deal to construct the Dh524 million World Trade Centre in Doha. The 60-storey tower will take about 26 months to complete.

Emaar fell 3.88 per cent to Dh3.96 and the Dubai Financial Market fell 4.57 per cent to Dh1.88. Developer Deyaar fell 3.92 per cent to Dh0.49 and heavyweight Emirate NBD lost 3.79 per cent to Dh3.05.

"Today was just profit taking. The market is one cycle away from the month's end. This is the day to do that. Beginning of next month, retail investors will come back, looking for cheap stocks. There is a lot of international cash lying around as well," said Mathew Wakeman, managing director of cash and equity linked trading, EFG-Hermes said.

Air Arabia and Drake and Scull also lost gains from previous sessions, down 0.93 and 2 per cent respectively.

"The outlook is still positive. Investors are locking gains and the market is not just moving up or down in a straight line," he said.

Some gains were seen by Global that shot up 10.92 per cent to Dh1.32 and Gulf Finance House that moved up 4.30 per cent.

"It [UAE] has issues that it's working through, but regionally its still positive and quite undervalued," Wakeman said. Upside from here on is expected.

Meanwhile Abu Dhabi real estate stocks continued to dominate trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), but did little Monday to help the benchmark index counter profit-taking.

Still, the index inched up by less than 0.1 per cent to 2,931, enough to maintain its highest mark since mid-November.

"The market has been rising rapidly in the past three or four days, so it has to take a breather," Al Fajer Securities Partner Nabil Farhat. "We're not talking about a major correction. We call it an interim correction."

Aldar gained 0.2 per cent to Dh4.62 and Sorouh lost 0.4 per cent to Dh2.49, as both stocks accounted for 59 per cent of trading value.

HC Securities recommended investors move their capital from Sorouh to Aldar, saying in a research note the latter "offers the most unlocked value and is likely to benefit more from an improvement in credit conditions." Bank stocks continued to perform well on the back of the Dubai World debt restructuring proposal presented last week. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank gained 1.4 per cent to Dh2.07, while First Gulf Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi rose by 1.7 per cent to Dh19.70 and 1.3 per cent to Dh11.80, respectively.

Monday marked the ADX's fifth consecutive gaining session and the third since the Dubai World announcement. Abu Dhabi avoided getting dragged down by reports Dubai Holding is looking to restructure as much as $20 billion of debt. "The fundamentals of this market are still good," said Farhat. "The Dubai World proposal was positive, oil prices are high, company valuations are still low and the sharp drop in CDSs (debt insurance) indicates systemic risk is low."