Dubai: UAE stocks ended marginally lower on Tuesday as investors turned risk averse due to lower oil prices.

The Dubai Financial Market General Index closed 0.76 per cent lower at 3,466.56, while the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index closed 0.46 per cent lower at 4,471.68.

“The UAE stocks were down due to Saudi story partly, and also due to lack of appetite and investor confidence,” Tariq Qaqish, head of asset management at Al Mal Capital said.

Only select stocks witnessed activity like Gulf Finance House, and Tabreed or National Cooling. Gulf Finance House closed 1.90 per cent higher at Dh1.07, while Emaar Properties, which was the second most active stock in trade, closed 0.84 per cent lower at Dh7.07.

“The exception in UAE stocks was Tabreed, while others were almost flat, The market also witnessed low turnover as we’ve seen in the past couple of weeks,” said Marwan Shurrab, fund manager and head of trading at Vision Investments & Holdings said.

Out of a total of 37 stocks traded on the exchange, shares of 24 firms fell, while other eight rose, The rest remained steady.

In Abu Dhabi, Eshraq Properties closed more than 2 per cent higher at Dh0.80, while Dana Gas closed more than 3 per cent higher at Dh0.54. Aldar Properties closed more than 1 per cent lower at Dh2.70.

Results eyed

“People are still looking for third quarter results, and investors would see if the companies were impacted by the expected slowdown that we are seeing in the past couple of months, and we would see investment opportunity based on that,” Vision Investment’s Shurrab said.

But oil prices would continue to depress sentiment.

“Oil prices have pressured the sentiment across the regional markets for the past couple of years. As long as oil prices are pressured, we would see negative sentiment in equity markets and companies performance going forward,” Shurrab added.

Qaqish from Al Mal Capital advises investors to also watch the US elections.

“The elections in the US is important factor to watch out for. If Clinton wins, it would give positive momentum on global markets along with regional markets,” Qaqish said.

On Tuesday, elsewhere in the Gulf, Qatar exchange index closed 0.35 per cent lower at 10,472.93. Muscat Securities MSM 30 index closed 0.33 per cent lower at 5,748.61.