DUBAI: The Dubai index ended steady on Wednesday as investors bided time ahead of Emaar Malls’ Initial Public Offering (IPO) on Thursday. The Abu Dhabi index ended higher.
The Dubai Financial Market General Index ended steady at 5,042.79, after trading in a tight range of 5,014.08-5,059.45. Volumes were at Dh550 million.
“Things are calmer as all are in holiday mood. It’s a very quiet day investors were taking stock ahead of the vacation period,” Saleem Khokhar, head of equities at NBAD’s asset management group said. Eid Al Adha holidays for the UAE financial markets will begin on Friday, and trading will resume on Tuesday.
Emaar Properties, which has the highest weightage on the index, rose 1.30 per cent to end at Dh11.70 per share.
Emaar Malls Group (EMG) will list its shares on the DFM on October 2. Shares in EMG were allocated at 2.90 dirhams apiece following huge demand, giving an overall sale value of Dh5.8 billion dirhams ($1.6 billion) and making it the largest stock sale in the Gulf region since 2008.
On the Dubai index, out of a total of 30 shares traded on the exchange, shares of 18 companies declined, shares of only 9 rose, while shares of the remaining 3 companies stayed unchanged.
Elsewhere in Abu Dhabi, the general index 0.47 per cent higher to end at 5,130.23. Out of a total of 32 companies, shares of 15 companies rose, while 10 of them declined and the other 7 remained steady.
Pretty comfortable Q4
“The Q3 figures would be decent and I expect the Q4 numbers to be solid. So we are looking at pretty comfortable next quarter for markets,” said Khokhar.
He expects the UAE indices to jump by another 20-25 per cent over 18 months.
Most of the companies in the UAE will start announcing their third quarter results later this month, setting a tone for the equity markets.
