Dubai: UAE shares extended losses on Wednesday as local investors rushed to book profits from the recent rally amid a fresh wave of turbulence across global stock markets.
The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index was down 3.44 per cent to 1,631.03 at 11.24am UAE time while Abu Dhabi's bourse had lost 1.6 per cent to 2,568.24.
Asian shares fell for the third day in a row on Wednesday on renewed uncertainty over Greece's bailout while US and European equity markets also saw heavy losses on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 1.57 per cent to 12,759.14, London's FTSE 100 declining 1.86 per cent to 5,765.8 and Frankfurt's Dax tumbling 3.4 per cent to 6,633.1.
"The domestic element, plus the massive sell-off in Europe and in the US., could lead to more profit-taking today in our markets," Sebastien Henin, portfolio manager at The National Investor, told Reuters.
"The market performance for the past two weeks has been driven by small and mid-cap stocks and this movement wasn't related to fundamentals of these companies. More profit-taking in the coming sessions would be positive for the market, which needs to take a breather and stabilise."
