Abu Dhabi: The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) index continued to trade sideways on Thursday, crawling down 0.09 per cent to reach 4,088.82 amid relatively low trade values of Dh751.7 million.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) general index went up 0.63 per cent to reach 4,726.72.

In Dubai, analysts said that the index staying above the 4,000 level was a positive sign that did not put the market at risk, though liquidity was still weak.

Musa Haddad, equity fund manager at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi’s asset management group, said that the index’s level at 4,088 was positive especially considering factors like the Greece debt crisis, and the potential Iran deal with the US.

“I think that after we saw a kind of sell-off a couple of weeks ago, the market is trying to stabilise as we are still in the Ramadan period. As long as we continue to see low values that we have seen in the past few days, I think the market is not finding its direction yet, and there are no catalysts to help with that,” he said.

Haddad said he expected the market to move in the upside in the next few weeks.

“If the Iran deal goes through, that’s going to be very positive. It’s the most important factor we should look at especially in Dubai because a lot of trade goes through Dubai Ports. If the deal doesn’t go through, however, there won’t be any change in the Dubai market because it’s an added factor rather than a discounting factor,” he said.

On DFM, Amanat topped the market in terms of value traded, with share prices going down 0.43 per cent. Amalak’s share prices, which have been soaring since the company re-listed on June 2, fell 5.02 per cent, Emaar slid 0.38 per cent, and Arabtec dropped 1.89 per cent.

Drake and Scull jumped 11.46 per cent on the back of its announcement about increasing GCC ownership to 100 per cent, and Dubai Parks gained 1.67 per cent.

“The blue chips haven’t been performing too well in the past few weeks especially the likes of Emaar and some of the banks. I think they’re lacking a bit of catalyst at this point but the Q2 results could be a boost.

Emaar is seeing a bit of slowdown in terms of the hotel business and that could impact their half-year results, but again, they might surprise us because their revenue depends on the percentage of completion,” Haddad said.

In the capital, Fujairah Building Industries topped the gainers’ list with a 14.67 per cent increase, followed by National Takaful Company (Watania) with 10.98 per cent, Al Khazna Insurance Co. with 4.65 per cent, and Dana Gas with 4.08 per cent.

Of the 35 stocks traded on DFM, 17 went down, 12 went up, and six remained unchanged. Of the 32 stocks traded on ADX, 13 declined, 14 advanced, and five remained flat.