Dubai: The Dubai bourse saw traded values remain sluggish on Tuesday amid investor concerns about their depressed state.

Sentiment took a hit as it emerged that volumes that had been expected to be climb following the holiday season ending in September where nowhere near revival.

On the Dubai Financial Market (DFM), volumes tumbled to Dh131 million — a marked decline to last week’s Dh200 million-plus.

Traded value peaked at more than Dh1 billion during the same period last year as small stocks like Gulf Finance House, Gulf Navigation, Eshraq Properties caught the attention of traders.

“There was nothing in terms of trading volumes, today. There is a liquidity squeeze,” said Marwan Shurrab, head of high net worth and the retail equity brokerage at Al Ramz.

The DFM General Index closed 0.25 per cent higher at 3,570.20.

“Overall this is a low volume rebound that needs to be supported with more liquidity,” Shurrab said. “We see consolidation at these levels. I don’t see a further downside from these levels,”

However, technical analysts are still bearish on the index.

“The trend still remains bearish as the market is trading below the 14-, 21- & 50-day simple moving average (SMA) and thus any recovery seen may attract renewed selling pressure. The strong support on the lower side exists at 3,465 level,” said Shiv Prakash, senior analyst with National Bank of Abu Dhabi Securities, in a note.

Air Arabia closed 0.84 per cent lower at Dh1.18.

“Traders may look to hold and add further with stop loss trailed to Dh1.13,” said Prakash, who is expecting the stock to test Dh1.26/36 in comings weeks.

Gulf Finance House closed at Dh1.61, up 1.26 per cent.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) General Index closed 0.31 per cent higher at 4,441.13.

Emaar IPO

“[The] market should start moving by the end of October ahead of [an] announcement of an IPO by Emaar,” Shurrab said.

Emaar Properties closed 0.47 per cent higher at Dh8.54. The company is planning an initial public offering of its development unit, an new investment vehicle into which the company has transferred a number of key assets.

Emaar Properties plans to reward its shareholders with a special dividend following the IPO.

Elsewhere in the Gulf region, Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul index was 0.32 per cent higher at 7,247.14.