Traders focus on banks and Aldar in Abu Dhabi stocks

Dubai

The Abu Dhabi index jumped on Tuesday on the back of buying in shares of NBAD. Dubai index remained steady after 1 per cent fall in the previous session.

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index closed 0.75 per cent higher at 4,564.63.

“The focus remains on banks and Aldar Properties. The strong performance was due to strong first quarter results from banks,” Marwan Shurrab, head of high net worth and retail equity brokerage, Al Ramz said.

“Traders are expecting positive surprises on first quarter results from Aldar,” Shurrab added.

NBAD shares closed 1.36 per cent higher at Dh11.20, and was the third most actively traded stock by volume. Aldar Properties closed 2.38 per cent higher at Dh2.15. Eshraq Properties closed 1.82 per cent higher at Dh1.12.

The Dubai Financial Market General Index closed 0.08 per cent higher at 3,433.74. “Markets was mainly focused on a couple of stocks. The index was flat. The consolidation that we have seen in markets may be impacting sentiment,” Shurrab said.

Union Properties, which witnessed bulk trades, closed 0.20 per cent higher at Dh0.999. Emaar Properties closed 0.14 per cent higher at Dh7.24. Mashreq Bank closed 15 per cent higher at Dh82.80. Union Properties, Emaar Properties and Mashreq Bank contributed to 45 per cent of traded volumes.

Shuaa Capital shares rose more than 1 per cent after the company swung into net profit after registering losses for the past seven quarters.

Going ahead, Shurrab expects consolidation in Dubai index and the gauge may trade in the range of 3,400-3,500. “We would continue moving sideways with low volatility.”

Rights

Brisk trading was seen in rights of Dar Al Takaful.

Rights of Dar Al Takaful closed 26 per cent higher at Dh0.292. Traded volumes on rights stood at 19 million. Traders took arbitrage opportunities in rights and shares of Dar Al Takaful.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul index ended lower weighed by weakness in capital goods and energy stocks. The index closed at 6,915.89, down 0.88 per cent.

The Qatar exchange index closed 0.04 per cent higher at 10,157.37.

The Muscat MSM 30 index closed 0.15 per cent lower at 5,466.61.