Dubai: The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) witnessed an unexpected dull day in terms of traded value as key stocks such as Emaar Properties and Drake & Scull (DSI) stabilised, awaiting fresh leads.
The DFM General Index shed 0.27 per cent to end the day lower at 3,629.86. Traded value fell to Dh219 million, a far cry from last week’s average of Dh472 million.
Recently, most of the traded value had been spurred by property stocks that include Emaar, Deyaar Properties and DSI due to company-specific news.
Emaar Properties was down 1.42 per cent to close at Dh8.34 while DSI closed steady at Dh2.03.
“Small caps like Deyaar and DSI could be targets for retail,” Hesham Khairy, head of institutional trading at Menacorp, said.
Dubai Investments closed 0.39 per cent lower at Dh2.57 after the company said it plans to hike foreign ownership levels to 49 per cent. Analysts are also expecting it to be added to the MSCI Emerging Market Index at its next review.
“We expect the prospective weight to be around 0.027 per cent, that could result in passive inflows exceeding $100 million,” said Talal Touqan, head of research and advisory with Al Ramz Capital.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) General Index fell 0.14 per cent to 4,456.65 by the end of trade yesterday.
“If the barrier of 4,527 remains strong, the index may fall back towards the lower support zone at 4,461/4,400,” Shiv Prakash, a senior analyst with National Bank of Abu Dhabi Securities, said.
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank closed half a per cent higher at Dh7.25 while Eshraq Properties went up 1.28 per cent to Dh0.79 at the close of trade on Monday.
Elsewhere in the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index closed 0.16 per cent lower at 6,945.28.
The Qatar Exchange Index rose 0.76 per cent to close 8,196.54 while the Muscat MSM 30 Index was up 0.32 per cent at 4,982.30.
The Bahrain Index, however, fell 0.02 per cent to close at 1,276.48.
In the Middle East and North Africa region, Egypt’s EGX 30 Index closed 1.19 per cent higher at 14,191.77.
