Dubai: In absence of any global leads on Sunday, local markets witnessed mixed trading, with buying seen in a few shares.
Traders were seen selling shares of Dubai Entertainments, Arabtec, Emaar Development and Emaar Properties, Drake and Scull, while buying those of Dubai Islamic Bank, Aramex, Air Arabia, Emaar Malls in the late session.
The Dubai Financial Market General closed 0.15 per cent lower at 3,320.58.
“Traders may look to stay cautious and stick to the outperformers placing 3,260 as the stop loss,” said Shiv Prakash, senior analyst at First Abu Dhabi Bank Securities.
Emaar Properties closed at Dh6.40, down 1.23 per cent. Ithmaar closed 10 per cent lower at Dh0.675 while Drake and Scull closed 5.61 per cent lower at Dh1.85.
Gulf Finance House closed 0.71 per cent lower at Dh1.39. Dubai Islamic Bank closed 0.65 per cent higher at Dh6.24 and Air Arabia closed 1 per cent higher at Dh1.30.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange general index closed 0.33 per cent lower at 4,584.41. Taqa closed more than 3 per cent higher at Dh0.59.
“Taqa almost formed a double bottom, poised to break over the immediate resistance at Dh0.59 and target Dh0.66/0.74 in the medium term,” Prakash said.
Limited downside
The downside in gulf indices was limited compared to sharp losses in indices overseas.
“The global sell-off had some impact on the Middle Eastern markets last week. Still, as we have often highlighted, the correlation with world markets remains moderate,” Al Mal Capital said in a note.
The S&P Mena Index fell 2.2 per cent last week compared to a 5 per cent decline in S&P 500.
The Tadawul index closed 1.03 per cent lower at 7,327.15, while the Nomu index closed 0.24 per cent lower at 2,985.
“Banks in Saudi Arabia are not disappointing us with pretty good set of results. Al Rajhi said it made 20 per cent more net income in the fourth quarter, beating even the most aggressive estimate. Another heavyweight National Commercial Bank also reported earnings ahead of consensus,” Al Mal Capital said in a note.
